17-The Magic Safety Meeting
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As a safety manager, one of your biggest challenges can be getting buy-in from management—whether it’s from upper management, crew leaders, or even supervisors. Everyone’s busy, juggling their own agendas, and sometimes, safety takes a backseat to priorities like quality and efficiency. So, how do you ensure that safety doesn’t get overlooked? Why You Need a Magic Safety Meeting Every year, your company should conduct a facility-wide safety assessment. This is when you assess both the behavior of employees (how they’re acting) and the work areas (looking for hazards like blocked exits or uninspected fire extinguishers). However, a common mistake that many managers make is keeping this assessment confined to the safety department. The key to success? Involving everyone. To do this, you need to get feedback from managers and crew leaders across departments. This is where the Magic Safety Meeting comes into play. Step 1: Gather Your Core Team First, you need to invite managers from every department: production, quality assurance (QA), maintenance, shipping, and even security. If possible, have the department heads themselves attend. This gives you the best opportunity to get feedback from people who are directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the facility. Keep the meeting to 45 minutes—not an hour. A shorter, focused meeting ensures that people stay engaged and that you cover the essentials without overwhelming anyone. Step 2: Brainstorm the Biggest Safety Risks Once the meeting starts, set the tone by explaining why they’re there: "I'm getting ready to do a safety assessment of the entire facility. I'll be focusing on behavior—how people are acting—and the work areas—where hazards might be hiding." Then, it’s time for the brainstorm exercise. Have everyone independently think about and write down the three most likely places where a serious injury might happen. These injuries could be anything from hospitalizations to amputations or, worse, fatalities. Here’s the twist: serious injuries are your primary focus, but you also want to include frequent injuries—the slip and fall accidents, cuts, and hand injuries that happen often, though they may not be life-threatening. Step 3: Group Discussion and Sharing After the initial brainstorming session, divide the group into two smaller teams. Have them share their findings and discuss them. Encourage them to talk openly about where they believe accidents are most likely to happen. This is not a blame game; it’s about identifying potential hazards and discussing solutions. The group discussion will help you uncover overlooked issues and spark ideas that might not have surfaced in a larger meeting. Step 4: Group and Prioritize the Risks Next, you’ll bring the group back together and get up to the whiteboard (or flip chart) to list the major serious and frequent injuries identified during the meeting. As you write, you’ll likely notice some patterns—common themes that emerge across departments. This is where you can narrow down the most critical risks. With a comprehensive list of injuries, you now have the foundation for your safety assessment. This gives you a clear picture of where to focus your attention when conducting your inspection. Step 5: Ownership and Accountability The last part of the Magic Safety Meeting is assigning ownership for each of the identified risks. After the meeting, the next step is to follow-up with another session where you go over the findings in detail and assign responsibility for each hazard. Who in the meeting is responsible for ensuring forklift safety? Who’s monitoring the warehouse for tripping hazards? Why the Magic Safety Meeting Works But the real beauty lies in the follow-up. Once the team is aware of the risks and has committed to their roles in managing safety, you’re well on your way to creating a sustainable safety culture. This is where the 80/20 rule comes in. The majority of accidents come from a small number of high-risk behaviors and areas. Addressing those high-priority risks can significantly reduce the number of accidents in your facility. Don’t Forget: OSHA Readiness While improving safety in your facility, don’t forget about OSHA compliance. A sudden OSHA inspection can be nerve-wracking, but being prepared is key. To help you get ready for any unexpected OSHA visits, check out my free OSHA Audit Checklist at HelpwithOSHA.com. It’s a great tool for managers who want to make sure their team is always ready and compliant with OSHA standards. If you’re interested in more safety tips and strategies to improve your safety programs, subscribe to our podcast or check out more resources at HelpwithOSHA.com. Need Help with OSHA? Don't let OSHA inspections catch you off guard. Download our free OSHA Audit Checklist to prepare your team and ensure compliance. Visit HelpwithOSHA.com today!
