This paper is based on the fact that discipline is a key element of all successful activities. The author was schooled in a setting where discipline was a basic element of learning. If the student works hard and pays close attention to detail the learning process is fairly simple. This does not imply that the author followed all the rules. As Eleanor Roosevelt noted, "If you follow all the rules, you are not having any fun." Eleanor may have had the right idea in my opinion. We will discuss discipline in its application to safety excellence and business excellence later in this document.

In 2012 McChesney, Covey and Huling published a business text "The 4 Disciplines of Execution". The book subtitle is "Achieving your wildly important goals". Most safety professionals would agree that safety goals although not necessarily considered wild are achievable. In fact in working with many organizations over forty years my observation is that safety goals are many times identical and possibly a little wild. The most frequent statement regarding goals has typically been something like "our goal is Zero accidents". The question many safety professionals ask to this goal or should ask "Is this achievable?" or "Is this reasonable". The safety director for a manufacturer of carbon filter material established a goal of 1.0 for an OSHA (occupational Safety and Health) Recordable Incident Rate each year. This rate equated to seven employees on a year over year basis. When asked why not reduce this to zero or three, the safety director replied "it has always been 1.0 because we will have seven injuries on average". Is this a case of complacency or the lack of a disciplined approach to move the needle or establish a stretch goal, a wildly important goal?

Having a focus is critical to attain excellence in OSH.

The focus of this paper will include but not be limited to the following:

  • How a four step disciplined approach can minimize injuries and illnesses in the workplace and drive safety excellence

  • The importance of management and employee engagement to move the needle on safety and health forward

  • The use of both safety management and risk management standards are critical to changing the safety profession from compliance to a business partner methodology.

  • The need to align safety and health with all key performance indicators to gain management buy in.

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