A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO DC VELOCITY 9

IF YOU ASK THEM, most forklift operators, fleetmanagers, and warehouse workers will say that safety istheir number-one priority. They’ll probably also say thatthey continually think about safety while they’re at work.More often than not, though, such assertions are closerto aspiration than reality.

Yet it is possible to develop an environment where
every employee and contractor actually does consider
safety to be his or her responsibility and does
think about it throughout the workday. That
describes a “safety culture,” which Don
Buckman, Hyster Co.’s environmental health
and safety manager, defines as “a set of
beliefs, attitudes, and actions consistently
adopted by everyone in the organization to
make the right decisions that value safety.”
The word “everyone” is key: A successful
safety culture requires each individual to value and
prioritize safety, regardless of his or her position on the
organization chart. “We want every person who comes to
work, including not just forklift drivers but also office staff,
to have a ‘zero injury mindset,’” says Ed Johannesen,
director of manufacturing for UniCarriers Americas (UCA).

It’s neither quick nor easy to ensure that everyone is
safety-focused and compliant at all times. Rather, it’s
a long-term initiative that requires sustained attention.
“Safety culture is something that must be cultivated over
time,” says Brian Duffy, director of corporate environmental
and manufacturing safety for Crown Equipment Corp. “It’s
not something that can be created or forced.”
Though it requires time and effort, there are plenty of
reasons why developing a safety culture is worthwhile. In
addition to fewer injuries, they include higher productivity,
lower costs,
reduced product and
equipment damage, and
better compliance with regulations. Here’s one more: A
safety culture encourages co-workers to look out for each
other’s well-being. “If we truly are treating each other like
family, then we care enough to make sure others don’t
put themselves in dangerous positions,” says Toyota
Material Handling Brand Ambassador Tom Lego.
The consequences of failing to develop and maintain
a safety culture can be dire. In a May 2019 blog post,
Thelma Marshall of TotalTrax, a provider of forklift
telematics systems, cites the example of a forklift
operator who backed over a pedestrian; after numerous
surgeries, the accident victim’s leg was amputated, and
the resulting lawsuit was settled for $9 million. Such
If you want to make safety top of mind for every employee every day,
focus on the fundamentals of communication and collaboration.