Kevin Burns Blog

Are You Running Safety Meetings Like A One-Room Schoolhouse?

Posted by Kevin Burns on Jan 30, 2014 3:48:00 PM

Safety meetings have the tendency to be a one-room schoolhouse: too many subjects all at once.

I have been the featured keynote speaker at a lot of safety meetings over my twenty years in safety management consulting. I have witnessed some meetings that created incredible focus for attendees and other meetings that were attention-deficit disasters. In safety meetings, it’s not uncommon to see 18 year-old first-time workers sitting alongside 3-more-months-until-retirement seasoned veterans - very similar to the one-room schoolhouses of old. Children of all ages would gathered under one roof to be taught by one teacher across all learning levels.

Shorten Safety Meeting Presentations

Posted by Kevin Burns on Jan 20, 2014 11:51:00 AM

Safety meetings are NOT about filling time. They are about ensuring that you engage your attendees in safety and help them to make better choices.

(An excerpt from my free e-book, The Perfect Safety Meeting)

4 Reasons Compliance Ignores Safety Attitude

Posted by Kevin Burns on Jan 13, 2014 1:20:00 PM

Safety attitude doesn’t come from compliance. Safety attitude comes from aligning the safety program with a worker's personal values.

After delivering a safety keynote presentation, I spotted a driver in treacherous, icy winter driving conditions fly through a yellow light with vehicle windows, side mirrors and tail lights completely obscured by snow. Upon parking, the driver, a construction worker, emerged from his vehicle in full PPE prepared for a full day of working safely.

10 Things Safety Is Not

Posted by Kevin Burns on Dec 30, 2013 11:21:00 PM

Safety is not a discussion of logic. People don’t choose to be unsafe logically. They do it illogically.

I got my start as a professional speaker very early on. I entered radio when I was fourteen years old; my father owned a small-town radio station. Some refer to radio as the media. But radio is only a part of media as is television, newspaper, bus benches, billboards, Yellow Pages and on the list goes.

Safety Meeting Video As Insurance

Posted by Kevin Burns on Dec 17, 2013 6:36:00 PM

Video creates a public record of your safety meeting, aids investigations, removes ambiguity and makes a safety meeting rock solid.

Last week, while preparing to deliver a safety keynote presentation, I was testing the rented cordless lapel microphone at a community hall. My client was hosting their Safety Awards Banquet that night, and I had been chosen as the keynote speaker. The HSE Manager suggested that perhaps they should buy a microphone system like the one I was testing because it was so compact. It would allow them to have some flexibility in their safety meetings by not always having to seek out a vendor to rent A/V equipment from.

Why Courtesy Improves Safety

Posted by Kevin Burns on Dec 10, 2013 3:38:00 PM

If you can get your people to be courteous to each other, you can get them to improve safety at the same time.

My travel takes me to the four corners of the North American continent as a safety attitude and safety management speaker. I get to witness, first-hand, some of the best and some of the worst safety behaviors - but none more prevalent than that of drivers.

Safety Starts With Attitude

Posted by Kevin Burns on Dec 5, 2013 2:41:00 AM

Until you start addressing the underlying attitudes of your people, you will always struggle with compliance, behaviors and communication.

This week, here in Calgary, we experienced our first blizzard of the season. It’s not winter yet but we have experienced plenty of blowing and drifting snow. My three appointments on Monday all got canceled. No one wanted to venture out. Can’t say I blame them. I am an Alberta Safety Speaker. Be safe right?

Always Be Improving In Safety

Posted by Kevin Burns on Nov 20, 2013 11:41:00 PM

When you tweak job performance in small chunks, little by little, safety performance improves.

Back in a former lifetime (20 years ago), I made my living as a radio announcer. Radio is a cut-throat game that depends on ratings. Take a tumble in the ratings and you can start looking for another job. To stay on top in the ratings requires constant monitoring, adjustment and improvement. That means weekly airchecks.

Are Your Safety Meetings Preventing Buy-in?

Posted by Kevin Burns on Oct 22, 2013 5:13:00 PM

Your job is to change the perception from HAVING to attend safety meetings, to WANTING to.

Imagine receiving a pair of tickets to the best seats in the house to watch your favorite sports team play. You’re primed and excited for the event but once you get there, you find out that there is no game. There are only stats, and numbers, and data and reports and transactions. Sure, stats and numbers and data are a part of sports but it’s not the enjoyable part.

Why Safety Meetings Are Boring

Posted by Kevin Burns on Oct 8, 2013 5:07:00 PM

Safety meetings are not supposed to be boring. People, more specifically presenters, make them that way.

Talks from the TED conferences are engaging. If you are not familiar with TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), they are a global set of conferences that bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less.