E-News for May 2000
Greetings ALMA Members,
I recently corresponded with one of our members who is in the process of implementing a Behavioral Based Safety Program in her lab and was looking for ideas. There are several variations on these types of programs but the basic concept is that the behaviors of the individual worker are responsible for either performing a task safely or for causing an accident. The program generally relies on a neutral observer, usually a peer, looking for these specific behaviors while the person is performing the task. Best practices as well as potentially harmful behaviors are identified, analyzed, and shared among all workers. These programs seem to work best when they are managed by the workers rather than imposed by management—an extension of the idea that your safety is your responsibility. Within my own lab, technician observers have spotted some potential safety issues in the collection of samples and in using specific pieces of equipment. I would like to hear from managers who use this approach in their labs to get more information on how the program is working and on how the findings are being used. I will share any useful information in a future e-mail.
I recently came across a new twist in the debate concerning the use of contact lenses in the laboratory. Over the past few years, the trend has been toward allowing use of these lenses in the lab as long as used in conjunction with appropriate eye protection such as safety glasses, goggles, or face shields. OSHA believes that contact lenses do not pose additional hazards to the wearer and has determined that additional regulation addressing the use of contact lenses is unnecessary. However, many labs still retain the prohibition against their use with the idea of “better safe than sorry.” Now the new wrinkle is that the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 might require employers to allow use of the lenses as a reasonable accommodation. Because of this Act, the American College of Ophthalmology and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine have reviewed their policies that banned contact lenses in the workplace and now agree that individuals who wear these lenses should not be disqualified from their work unless it can be proved that they pose a direct threat to the health or safety of themselves or others. Research on this issue has found that most of the supposed dangers of wearing contact lenses while working with chemicals are unsubstantiated and, in fact, they may offer some additional protection to the wearer. However, those that have changed their policies to allow the use of contacts in the lab should be aware that federal regulations still prohibit their use with certain chemicals such as methylene chloride, acrylonitrile, ethylene oxide, methylenedianiline, and a few others.
As a lab manager, how much of your time do you spend solving problems each day? Does your staff regularly come to you for assistance with their problems? If you spend a significant amount of time each day dealing with operational issues, then you need to read “Whos Got the Monkey,” Harvard Business Review, 77(6), 1999, pp. 179-86. This article points out how people regularly come to the manager with a monkey on their back (a problem) and during the conversation, the monkey leaps from their back to the managers. The person walks away feeling no further obligation to take care of the monkey since the manager has tacitly agreed to take over the care and feeding. In effect, the subordinate has delegated work to the manager that they should have taken care of themselves—who is working for whom? For example, a staff member greets you with “We’ve got a problem” and proceeds to explain. Since these issues are rarely straightforward, you reply “I’ll look into it” and the staff member walks away with no further responsibility until you act. They may even stop by to ask if you have thought any more about the problem—this is called supervision. Now consider how many monkeys you collect from your staff during a week while dealing with your own boss-imposed or system-imposed requirements. While you deal with the herd of screaming monkeys, the staff complains about you being slow to make a decision and being a bottleneck in getting things done. To be an effective manager, you must take control of this situation by requiring staff initiative. The staff must be required to: (1) recommend and then act, or (2) act but advise at once, or (3) act and then routinely report. The options of waiting until told what to do or asking what to do must be outlawed. The staff member should retain possession of the monkey with an obligation to care for it. The author gives five rules that will allow the manager to preserve some discretionary time to work on more strategic issues that will improve lab performance. Stephen Covey also has a short piece accompanying the article entitled “Making Time for Gorillas” that offers some thought provoking insight into managerial motivation in dealing with problems. This is a good article that is recommended for all managers.
If you have any comments, cost saving suggestions, opinions, etc. let me hear from you .
Wayne