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THE SAME VALUES

SAFETY

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When we connect as people with the values at work, workplace safety becomes something human and natural, not a requirement, as many experience it today.

The Same Values at Home and at Work.

In occupational safety, we saw this as a necessary and indispensable understanding.

In this way, safety is no longer just about rules or the team that enforces them.

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  • It’s about understanding safety as a question of values.

  • And as such as something that can’t be compromised on.

  • It’s about looking after each other.

  • It’s about prevention, anticipation, and being alert.

  • It’s how you would act for your own child.

Many workers at large factories or industrial sites think that it’s normal for there to be an occasional accident, given the scale of the operations.

It’s not that they don’t care; it’s just what they believe.

We would never see it as normal to have disabling accidents at home. So why would we think it’s acceptable at work?

During our constant field visits we have seen that there is an entrenched belief:

WANTING ZERO ACCIDENTS AT HOME IS NORMAL. IT SHOULD BE HERE TOO!

The Same Values at Home and at Work.

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This is how we build a safety culture with deep, strong roots. A safety culture, where the natural and spontaneous answer is to take care of one another. Just as we would at home. From the heart. With values.

Applied to Preventive Safety Observations:

The Same Values at Home and at Work.

This outlook also helps us to increase and improve Preventive Safety Observations (PSO). They then become a real tool in a cultural shift and not merely a means of sanctioning.

It’s common for safety observations to be seen almost in the same way as speeding or parking tickets from the police.

Instead, we propose that OPS become an opportunity to build a relationship between the worker and the supervisor. It gives the supervisor the chance to offer meaningful guidance to the worker.

When that guidance is delivered with both clarity and care, the likelihood that the worker truly internalizes the learning increases — sometimes even with a sense of gratitude.

It’s the same approach we take when teaching a child something important. The goal is not to punish, but to ensure they learn something that will stay with them for life — especially for the moments when we are no longer there.

IT’S A QUESTION
OF VALUES

It’s not just rules and protocols.

 

Or about someone catching us out.

 

It’s about doing things right.

Thinking about others.

 

There’s no excuse.

Even if there is no rule written down.

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WHY DO WE USE PHOTOGRAPHY HERE?

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Because it helps us to connect as human beings, going far beyond the task we are carrying out, and beyond the position we hold at the company, beyond the scale of the industrial site we work at.

“Respect breeds safety” is what a humble forestry worker used to say to us years ago. And respect comes when we connect as people. When we get to know one another. When we care for each other.

It might seem incredible, but we all become desensitized. The pressure to complete our daily tasks, the huge machines that surround us, added to the fact that everyone wears the same hi-vis jackets, hard hats and safety goggles so that we all look alike.

It’s as if we disconnect from the human being in front of us for a moment. And they disconnect from us as well.

We create portraits of the people behind the uniforms. Catching them at their best. The act of taking a photograph is enough to create the chance to getting to know one another and see each other’s value. In contrast to a typical external photographer working with a mannequin or silent model, we get to know about the person’s job, have a conversation, and make a real connection while we take the photos.

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