Experts Say You Can't Inspect Your Way to Safety

By Jim Parsons, Engineering News-Record

Do you know good safety when you see it? A cursory survey of a typical jobsite would likely find workers wearing required protective gear and carrying out tasks according to standard practices. So the answer would seem to be “Yes, this is a safe environment.”

But are workers actively thinking about safety as they do their jobs, or are they simply doing what they’ve been told?

That distinction says a lot about the effectiveness of a contractor’s safety culture, where shared behaviors and attitudes among workers not only prevent accidents and injuries but also create opportunities for improvement.