Conflicting agendas collide

Managing risk requires commitment, focus and an effort to balance agendas that seem in conflict. The propane industry is not immune to conflicting agendas.

Jay Johnston

Price-cutting competition, dangerous driving conditions, financial setbacks, supply delays and pressure to cut corners can impact any company’s ability to perform safely.

Simple safety requirements or regulatory compliance mandates will always seem impractical under conflicting circumstances. Whether you are a mom-and-pop operation or a major marketer, such conflict can set the stage for safety compromise.

Any time a safety issue runs into conflict with an out-of-balance agenda, all stakeholders in the process will be exposed to financial and physical risk. The cost of a serious claim can negate any potential profit.

What do safety conflicts for the propane industry look like?

• A driver in a hurry may lose control of a vehicle, causing death, bodily injury, property damage and physical damage to that expensive truck.
• A service tech, dealing with a do-it-yourselfer customer and his buddy, the moonlighting contractor, may be bullied into safety compromise in an out-of-gas situation.
• A delivery driver could skip steps and check-offs in the safety process related to hose inspection and emergency shutoff equipment function resulting in contributory negligence during product transfer.
• An owned or vendor bottle fill attendant could fail to wear personal protection equipment, fail to provide safety material to customers and fail to inspect a refill cylinder per code requirements, especially when a cylinder sleeve is involved.
• Commercial forklift employees might try to change out a forklift cylinder without following training procedures, including turning the tank off at the valve.

So who has a stake in the process? First and foremost, coworkers have physical exposure to work-related accidents. I encourage all employees as first-line stakeholders to look out for the other to achieve safety compliance. Vendors, subcontractors and suppliers are stakeholders as well.

Emergency response personnel, labor organizations, government compliance officials and insurance company loss control inspectors are also stakeholders in the propane risk management process.

I define our mutual goal for safety success as no accidents related to property damage, personal injury or death. There is no room for compromise in such an important goal.

How do we instill commitment and focus to balance conflicting safety agendas? I believe management must take the lead in responsibility and accountability when it comes to asking employees for commitment and focus.

Without empowerment, authorization, encouragement and motivation from the top, implementation of safety compliance standards will not happen consistently.

We all understand the reluctance of any employee to take on conflicting safety agendas in the face of authority. A paycheck can be great leverage to comply or not. Hopefully management will not try to leverage such vulnerability.

So what can you and I do? Today you can join me in standing up for making a difference. Today you can work with commitment and focus to address areas within your job and company that seem in conflict. Today you have a choice to work toward balancing safety agendas before your company ends up in the headline news.

Discuss the problems. Design solutions. After an accident, there will be plenty of time for finger pointing and blame.

Jay Johnston (www.thesafetyleader.com) is a business consultant, safety writer, inspirational speaker and leadership facilitator specializing in strategic insurance and safety management. He can be reached at

Jay@thesafetyleader.com

or 952-935-5350.