Deming's 14 Points Applied to Safety
Point 10: Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity.
What! Zero defects is not an appropriate goal? Does that apply to safety too? Remember, Deming is talking about product defects here. The related safety goal might be "zero accidents." Although this goal may be unachievable, it's the only morally appropriate goal to have because employers are dealing with injuries and fatalities.
If employers set a goal of anything less than zero accidents, what's going to happen? If they reach the goal, they pat themselves on the back, sit back with their feet up on the desk, and believe they "have arrived." When this occurs, you can bet their accident rate will start rising once again.
Contentment is a dangerous condition in safety. If employers set zero accidents as their goal, they may never reach it, but that's fine. Employers should never be content anyway. They should always be frustrated — never satisfied to make sure they continually improve the system.
If employers set a goal to reduce accidents by 50%, they will design a less effective system to get themselves to the goal, but no farther. If they set a zero-accident goal, they will design a more effective system to reach that goal.
On another line of thought: In safety, the "happy poster syndrome" is a common occurrence. Managers think that by placing a safety poster every thirty feet on a wall, they have a successful safety awareness program. Employees, for the most part, ignore the posters, and may not believe the message that management is trying to convey. The Fix: Get rid of the posters and meaningless slogans. Replace them with action, example, and word. Each supervisor and manager becomes a walking safety slogan.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
8-10. What is the problem with having too many safety posters hanging on the job site?
You forgot to answer the question!