Prioritize Safety Now So It Becomes a Value Before It’s Too Late

We typically excel at safety – after an incident. My question is, can we get it right before an incident occurs? And if so, how? Keeping in mind that you probably learned a stove could be hot by touching one as a child, let’s consider another question: Is it possible for us to develop safety-related values or are we doomed to learn the hard way?

Take a look through the events and incidents listed below. Understanding why those individuals now use human and organizational performance (HOP) tools (e.g., checking; verification; say it out loud; event + response = outcome; step-by-step place-keeping) – even if they don’t know HOP terminology – may provide insight into how much they inherently value safety, work methods and procedures.

A man who takes a picture of his kitchen stove every morning … after almost burning down his house.

Most of us wearing safety glasses while trimming the grass … after that rock hit our face.

Trainers confirming building access and contact numbers … after getting stuck in the rain and having to play lost puppy to get in the door.

Most of us following the instructions when assembling a piece of furniture … after taking it apart and starting over.

Learning the rental car controls before leaving the rental lot parking space … after shifting into neutral on the interstate while trying to turn up the radio and driving in the dark when the automatic lights didn’t turn on.

A surgeon writing their initials on your left shoulder before surgery … after they operated on the wrong shoulder.

And here’s one more to consider: Parents who install covers on electrical outlets … before their first child is born.

The events and incidents listed above could lead us to conclude that we often learn things the hard way and that most safety lessons will be learned through undesired situations. Yet they could also help us understand that the events and incidents we learn from don’t have to involve serious injuries or fatalities and that caring makes us value safety.

Safety as a Core Value
Valuing safety means that it’s always important. Prioritizing safety means that it’s sometimes important; we add “but fors” and “except whens” to the standard for our comfort and convenience. For instance, most people will tell you it’s wrong to text and drive. They believe they value that standard. The problem is that if you ask them if they’ve ever texted while driving, they’ll say yes. “Don’t text and drive” becomes “Don’t text and drive but for emergencies or short messages” or “Don’t text and drive except when there is no other traffic and it’s a straight road.”

Parents, motivated by caring – which is defined in C5 safety leadership as preventing harm and encouraging growth – typically get it right. They anticipate hazards like sharp furniture corners and energized electrical outlets and acknowledge that their children will trip, stick their fingers in sockets and make other errors. That’s why they teach, train, coach and protect. The corners are cushioned and the outlets covered long before an incident happens, and often before the child is born.

Practicing HOP Tools
We can learn to care more about our own safety and the safety of our TEAM (Together Everyone Accomplishes More); that’s a topic for another time. We can also view errors as opportunities and use them to practice HOP tools that will serve us well.

Try this out sometime: Stop in your driveway, watch the garage door hit the ground and say, “Garage door down.” You’ll quickly learn that saying it out loud changes your cognition, giving the HOP tool value, and hopefully you’ll use it at work.

When you travel, develop a packing list that allows you to check off each item as it goes in the suitcase. You’ll quickly learn that checking and step-by-step place-keeping ensure success, giving the HOP tools value, and hopefully you’ll use them at work.

Before you send an important email, proofread it and then ask someone else to do the same. You’ll quickly learn that checking and verification ensure that conditions are correct before critical steps are performed, giving the HOP tools value, and hopefully you’ll use them at work.

The next time you feel rushed, stop and ask yourself why you’ll have time to do the work again but don’t have time to do it correctly right now. You’ll quickly learn E + R = O and that pausing between an event and your response to define your ideal outcome will lead to a better response, giving the HOP tool value, and hopefully you’ll use it at work.

The point is to practice HOP tools in low-risk environments. Practice doesn’t make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect, and if you don’t practice using these tools while performing simple tasks in simple situations, you won’t be able to use them effectively when they’re really needed.

Conclusion
You are going to learn about safety and how to use HOP tools that give you time to think, focus your attention and control your work. These are not choices. One choice you do have, however, is whether to learn about safety and HOP tools because you were involved in an incident or because you care enough to practice them.

I’ll close with this statement made by the CEO of a utility company when kicking off a recent Frontline training class: “We are going to make safety a value and will adjust our priorities to meet that value.” That’s something every utility organization should aspire to.

About the Author: David McPeak, CUSP, CIT, CHST, CSP, CSSM, is the director of professional development for Utility Business Media’s Incident Prevention Institute (https://ip-institute.com) and the author of “Frontline Leadership – The Hurdle” and “Frontline Incident Prevention – The Hurdle.” He has extensive experience and expertise in leadership, human performance, safety and operations. McPeak is passionate about personal and professional development and believes that intrapersonal and interpersonal skills are key to success. He also is an advanced certified practitioner in DISC, emotional intelligence, the Hartman Value Profile, learning styles and motivators.

About Frontline Fundamentals: Frontline Fundamentals topics are derived from the Incident Prevention Institute’s popular Frontline training program (https://frontlineutilityleader.com). Frontline covers critical knowledge, skills and abilities for utility leaders and aligns with the Certified Utility Safety Professional exam blueprint.

Webinar: Prioritize Safety Now
July 9, 2025, at 11 a.m. Eastern
Visit https://ip-institute.com/frontline-webinars/ for more information.