ALMA E-News for May 2002
Greetings ALMA Members,
The typical laboratory has multiple sources of safety data. For example, we may have incident reports, near-miss reports, safety inspections, chemical reviews, MSDS sheets, observation comments from behavioral based safety programs, industry or government reports, process hazard evaluations, training materials, noise surveys, ergonomic audits, and on and on. Unfortunately, we typically do not have a system to organize and transform these data into useful information for use in our daily operations. For example, take a look at how often your analytical methods are updated with new safety information—if yours is like most labs, it may have been years since anything new was added. The problem is not a lack of new data but rather a disconnect with the documentation system. The disconnect is especially great for more subtle issues such as ergonomic risks—we might modify a procedure to include a warning about exposure to a toxic chemical but would be less likely to modify it to mention a risk of repetitive motion injury. To fix this problem, we need to establish a system to mine information from our data sources and then to modify our procedures to include the findings. If the idea of updating all your procedures is too daunting, how about taking on one or two each month, perhaps as part of the monthly safety meeting? It is important to close the loop to get our hard-learned safety lessons back into our daily operations where they will do the most good.
Over the past few years, I have been amazed by the number of managers who are working for a different company each time that I meet them—same job, same location but a new company. The chemical industry is consolidating and with each new owner, we are faced with the challenge of reorganizing, “right-sizing,” or otherwise changing to satisfy the new bosses. Having personally experienced this type of change during the past year, I found the recent article entitled “A Survival Guide for Leaders” (Harvard Business Review, June 2002) to be most interesting. The authors offer suggestions for managing potentially destructive career issues and for dealing with the stress of change. Some of the ideas mentioned are:
- Leadership is an improvisational art so you need to maintain a tactical view of the situation as well as a strategic view of the objectives. Unanticipated effects of today’s decisions need to be noticed and addressed by new decisions tomorrow. You need to be both an observer of and a participant in the change.
- Recruit partners to help you manage the change process and keep the opposition close at hand to keep an eye on them. Win over the uncommitted by letting them know that you personally understand their sacrifices.
- Recognize your own resistance to change and set an example by showing the organization how you personally deal with it.
- Provide a safe place for airing clashing viewpoints while managing acrimonious behaviors and attitudes. You need to promote a level of distress that arouses the passion to change while keeping it from escalating to counterproductive turmoil.
- Trust others in the organization to handle transformation and problem solving—if you alone drive the change, the organization may come to view you as the threat and use their energies to eliminate you rather than accept the change.
- Recognize your own needs and vulnerabilities and deal with them so that you don—t contribute to your own self-destruction.
- Provide yourself with a “safe harbor” where you can unwind and reflect on the situation each day; develop a confidant to listen and help keep you grounded in reality. Don’t take things personally—criticism, even personal attacks, comes with the position.
If you have any comments, cost saving suggestions, opinions, etc. let me hear from you .
Wayne