Kevin Ian Schmidt

The 5 Why Method of Root Cause Analysis

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root cause 5 why trainingKnowing how to properly conduct a 5 why root cause analysis is imperative when handling a safety incident investigation.

It isn’t just OSHA that encourages the use of root cause during an incident investigation, but also the EPA under their Risk Management Program(RMP).

Concerning Root Cause Analysis OSHA says:

During an incident investigation, an employer must determine which factors contributed to the incident, and both OSHA and the EPA encourage employers to go beyond the minimum investigation required and conduct a root cause analysis. A root cause analysis allows an employer to discover the underlying or systemic, rather than the generalized or immediate, causes of an incident. Correcting only an immediate cause may eliminate a symptom of a problem, but not the problem itself. – Source
While this is not an official order to conduct a root cause analysis, and it may not result in an OSHA fine for not complying, it can potentially result in a violation of OSHA’s General Duty Clause:

a) Each employer —

(1) shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees;
That is because the occurrence of a safety incident is a clear indication of a workplace hazard, and a failure to abate this hazard potentially means your company is no longer furnishing employees with a workplace with recognized hazards, as a full and proper root cause investigation would have uncovered the direct cause of this hazard.
So while OSHA doesn’t require it, they may cite you over not investigating properly. Anyone with an understanding of OSHA rules, regulations, and interpretations, will understand this is often the case, as OSHA will always err on the site of caution for employee protection.
Check Out: How to Improve Your Safety Culture

The 5 Why Method as a Root Cause Analysis Method for Workplace Incidents

The 5 Whys technique can also be used as a method for determining root causes of workplace incidents. What would 5 Whys look like in the context of a workplace incident investigation? Here’s the application of 5 Whys to an example mentioned in an OSHA fact sheet:

The Problem: A worker slips and falls, and suffers an injury.
1st Why: There was a puddle of oil on the plant floor.
2nd Why: Oil spilled from a compressor.
3rd Why: An oil leak from the compressor was not detected.
4th Why: The compressor was not inspected on a regular basis and repaired (if required).
5th Why and the Root Cause: The compressor was not in the maintenance system.

In theory it takes five “whys” to get to the root cause, but in practice there will be cases where you may use more or fewer than five “whys”.

This 5 Why Method Training will explain the basics of how to conduct a root cause analysis using the 5 Why method.
Adding a 5 Why Method training to your company’s incident investigation training program will improve your accident investigations to best identify hazards in the workplace along with empowering your employees in owning their safety.

Finally, according to the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, these are the benefits of asking the 5 Whys:

  • Simplicity: Easy to use and requires no advanced mathematics or tools.
  • Effectiveness: Helps to quickly separate symptoms from causes and identify the root cause.
  • Comprehensiveness: Helps to determine relationships between various problem causes.
  • Flexibility: Works well alone and when combined with other methods.
  • Engaging: Fosters teamwork.
  • Inexpensive: A guided, team-focused exercise with no additional costs.

Combining this training with the Root Cause Worksheet as part of your total incident investigation program will allow your team to thoroughly investigate every incident.
Please check out the other components of an Incident Investigation Program, listed below:

 

To facilitate better root cause analysis in the workplace, I published a Root Cause Analysis workbook available on Amazon.

Download the 5 Why training

View the 5 Why training

5 Whys Training - Kevin Ian

 

 

Implementing Employers Rights During An OSHA Inspection

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For those of you that have had an OSHA inspection at your workplace you probably have learned a thing or two as to how you would handle it if you had the opportunity to do it over. No one is really prepared for that unannounced, page from your receptionist informing you that a representative from the U.S. Department of Labor, division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is here to talk with you. They usually, it seems, come at a time when all your other facility operational problems are occurring, break downs, employee absentee concerns, shipment backlogs, you name them. But whatever they are, they all have to be set aside so you can respond to your visitor.

Your Rights As An Employer.

As a safety professional, I want to share some brief but very important suggestions as to the best way to handle an OSHA visit. First; understand that although you are governed under the Act, you as an employer do have rights. For this article, I will be discussing rights under the OSH Act which is administered under the Federal guidelines. States which have their own OSHA State Plan may have different employer rights and obligations.

For more information: Who and Where Does OSHA Regulate

Pre-inspection Rights

If as an employer you seek to ensure compliance with any and all applicable OSHA regulations without the fear of an OSHA enforcement inspection or the issuance of a citation for identified regulatory infractions, there is help from OSHA itself.

  • Ask for assistance from OSHA itself. Contact your local Regional, Area Offices. Each OSHA Area Office will have a Compliance Assistance Specialists(CASs)on board. The CAS can answer questions on the phone and are also available for seminars, workshops, and speaking events. There is no need to give your name or establishment’s name. Be prepared and explain the specifics of your concern.
  • Request assistance from the OSHA On-site Consultation program. The OSHA On-site Consultation program is funded by OSHA and administered through its respective state agency or a state university. The consultation program is separate from enforcement and a visit will not result in penalties or citations in the event any regulatory infractions are found. One important note; There is a responsibility on the employers part to fully comply with any and all safety and health concerns identified during the consultation visit.

OSHA On-Site Rights – Recommended Action

When that day comes, and you probably won’t be prepared or ready for it, it is important that you understand your rights as an employer. It is important to understand how an OSHA inspection is conducted and more important why the OSHA inspector is at your door. The following outlines the When, Why and How elements of an OSHA visit.

WHEN will OSHA visit your establishment? To be quite honest with you, due to the number of OSHA Compliance Officers, which at last count was right around 2,043 and considering there is approximately 7 million worksites, your odds of getting inspected are low. Let’s look at OSHA inspection priorities; they are (in order):

  • Imminent danger situations
  • Fatalities and catastrophes
  • Complaints (employee)
  • Referrals (made by other Federal or State Agencies or organizations)
  • Follow-ups (initial inspection identified hazards – citation was issued)
  • Planned or programmed investigations (OSHA initiatives (National Emphasis (NEP) or Local Emphasis (LEP) Programs), Site Specific Targeting Initiative (SST).
The OSHA General Duty Clause is a catch-all regulation that a workplace can be cited under.

 

It is very important to understand that most OSHA visits are unannounced. You will not be given any advanced warning prior to an inspection.

The very first being “Imminent danger” is fairly rare. Very few imminent danger inspections have been conducted by OSHA. You should be well aware that a fatality or catastrophe inspection will be occurring for obvious reasons.

The remaining reasons for a visit are usually unknown as to when they may occur.

WHY are they here today? When that day comes and they are sitting in your waiting area, it is important to exercise your rights as an employer before going any further with the inspection. The following action on your part should take place:

  • Make sure your receptionist or whoever first contact is made with request that the compliance officer waits in the waiting area. Next the highest ranking management official on site should be contacted. DO NOT escort the compliance officer to an office or through the work area.
  • The chosen management representative should ask for the compliance officer’s identification card. This will be a certified U.S. Department of Labor / OSHA ID. Also ask for a business card. You will want to make a copy or write down the ID information.
  • Proceed to question why the compliance officer is at your facility, e.g. reason for the inspection following the “inspection priority” list noted above.

Note: Very important. If the compliance officer is their based on an employee complaint, they MUST provide you with a copy of the complaint itself. The individual filing the complaint will be removed from your copy.

  • If the reasoning for the visit is acceptable you should then request and inform the compliance officer that you are going to contact the Regional Area Office to verify their status and reason for the visit. Don’t hesitate to do this. It is not play “hard-ball” it is just being sure.
  • Once you have verified the compliance officers visit you should then proceed to an office area so as to conduct the opening conference.
Learn More: OSHA Requirements for Small Businesses

How To Conduct Yourself During The OSHA Inspection.

The OSHA visit consists of three basic inspection elements. They are:

  • Opening Conference
  • Walk-around Survey
  • Closing Conference

Opening Conference.

Many believe that the walk-around survey is the most important aspect of the inspection. Although during this procedure, any hazards and potential OSHA regulatory violations may be found, it is my opinion that the most important part of the OSHA visit is the opening conference. It is during this phase that the compliance officer will determine your facilities safety and health culture. It is also the period where you, the employer can establish a leadership role in how and what the compliance officer looks at. Remember, this is your business, you know more about how things are run at your facility then the compliance officer. Take charge, be a leader. Here are some tips as to how to conduct an opening conference:

  • Have all your OSHA required and other safety and health written policy and procedures readily available for review, especially your OSHA required accident and illness records. I recommend that each policy be in its separate three ring binder rather than having one, huge binder which holds all the policies. This separate bound system makes it easy to review.
  • Lead the discussion and inform the compliance officer of all your safety and health activities, e.g;

* Safety and Health Committees,

* Recent Safety and Health Training,

* Seminars Attended,

* Outside Assistance Used.

Check Out: Conduct your Own OSHA Mock Audit

Walk-Around Survey

Often if the opening conference is handled properly, usually on a “targeted inspection” such as a record keeping inspection visit, the visit will be stopped at that point. No walk-around will be conducted.

In the event that the inspection needs to proceed here are some tips as to how to conduct yourself during that walk around.

  • If the compliance officer is there on a complaint, take the compliance officer directly to the area(s) noted on the complaint itself. For example; if the complaint stated that a specific piece of equipment is improperly guarded, escort the compliance officer to that piece of equipment.

NOTE: If the compliance officer observes safety and health issues other than the complaint

reference while traveling to the area of concern, they can note and issue a citation on those items.

That is why it is very important to not take the compliance officer on a full plant tour.

  • If the compliance officer takes pictures, you should ask what they were taking a picture of and take one yourself.
  • Ask what the compliance officer is looking for.
  • Ask what the compliance officer is writing down.
  • Never leave the compliance officer un-escorted.

Closing Conference.

The closing conference is a discussion as to what the compliance officer found and what possibly was found in violation of any applicable OSHA regulation. During the discussion you will want to;

  • Ask what specific OSHA regulation the infraction noted will be applied to.
  • Give some further explanation as to why the infractions were noted and what has been done in the past to eliminate them.
  • Take immediate action to rectify the infractions noted.

Although the compliance officer will give you an idea as to what may be cited (issuance of citation) they really do not make that decision. The final decision as to issuing a citation is made by the OSHA Area Director. So you won’t get a final answer during this closing conference period.

Learn More: OSHA Citations Explained

Safety Milestones Since the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

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March 25, 2021, was the 110th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire – a tragic incident that elevated the workplace safety concerns of garment industry workers and workers in other manufacturing jobs to a point of no return. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire led to the creation of agencies and multiple reforms dedicated to workplace safety. Some reforms began in the days and months that immediately followed the fire while other reforms took years and decades to appear.
Oct. 14, 1911: The Founding of the United Association of Casualty Inspectors

The United Association of Casualty Inspectors was founded as a direct response to the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. According to ASSE, the organization started with 62 members. In 1914, the Association changed its name to American Society of Safety Engineers, and it still operates under that name to this day.

As of 2011, the Society states it has 32,000 members who “supervise and consult on safety, health, and environmental issues in industry, insurance, government and education.” ASSE also maintains multiple American National Standards Institute (ANSI) committees and projects. The initiatives of ASSE have helped businesses reduce costs by providing a safer workplace environment which, in turn, helps reduce workplace injuries that lead to downtime, workman’s compensation claims and higher turnover rates.

1911-1921: Worker’s Compensation Laws Take Off

New York state passed the first worker’s compensation law in 1910, according to EH.net. While the workman’s compensation model had long been studied by businesses, it did not have the support of Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, or a variety of other members (Department of Labor).

However, in 1909 the AFL switched channels and began to back the program. At the same time, companies like International Harvester had begun to create their own compensation models and supported laws that would ensure all companies, large and small, were supported. By 1921, 46 jurisdictions in the country had workmen’s compensation laws on the books.

1934: Voluntary Health Insurance Appears

A National Institutes of Health document titled “Voluntary Health Insurance on the National Scene: The Program of the Insurance Companies” dated the initial offerings of “experiments with group hospital expense insurance” as launching in 1934, which was right on the heels of the Blue Cross movement originating in 1929 (Blue Cross Blue Shield). At this point in history, group insurance plans could be issued to employers, unions and trustees of a welfare benefit fund.

1955: The Emergence of the Industrial Hygienist

According to EHSToday, a 1955 “Occupational Hazards” article chronicled that the previous 10 years had seen industrial hygiene become a major concern. Many companies and large businesses employed health technicians who assessed everything from cafeteria cleanliness to the common cold. Most health technicians did not have initial input related to safety practices within the manufacturing process, but some specialists like Fred Manuele, an ASSE Fellow (ASSE), state that by the end of the 1950s “a lot of good” practices were put into place.

1970: The Formation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

OSHA was launched in 1970 after several years of rising on-the-job fatalities and workplace injuries. Throughout its 40-plus years of existence, OSHA has worked to ensure safe and healthy working conditions for American workers. The Administration sets and enforces standards and also offers training, education and assistance to companies of any size. OSHA’s Free On-Site Consultation Program helps ensure even small businesses have a safe and product-healthy environment for their employees (OSHA Small Business).

Workplace health and safety has improved almost immeasurably since the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911 through a mixture of business, government and organizational changes.

Company Culture

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The term “company culture” is something of a nebulous concept, but most culture professionals can agree on the very basics of a definition. In short, company culture can be defined as a set of shared values, goals, attitudes and practices that characterize an organization. A company’s culture influences results from top to bottom.
There are a few important components of a successful company culture, but many companies miss the mark on company culture by focusing on thee wrong things. Company culture is not:

Your core values – Core values are certainly part of your culture, but until you put them into action they’re just words on paper. In fact, core values can negatively impact culture if they aren’t adhered to. Employees will see this as the company paying lip service and failing to live up to its own standards.

Your perks and benefits – Ping pong tables and beer on tap can be great, assuming they represent what your employees really care about, but perks and benefits are not a substitute for strong company culture.

The yardstick by which all candidates should be measured – Hiring for cultural fit has become a hot topic over the past few years, but we’re already seeing companies shift away from this line of thought. Hiring people that align with your culture makes sense on the surface, but too many companies use this “metric” as a crutch. Many companies have pivoted to a “cultural add” model, wherein they look for candidates that align with the most important elements of their culture, but will also bring their own unique traits to the table.

At the deepest level, an organization’s culture is based on values derived from basic assumptions about the following:

  • Human nature. Are people inherently good or bad, mutable or immutable, proactive or reactive? These basic assumptions lead to beliefs about how employees, customers and suppliers should interact and how they should be managed.
  • The organization’s relationship to its environment. How does the organization define its business and its constituencies?
  • Appropriate emotions. Which emotions should people be encouraged to express, and which ones should be suppressed?
  • Effectiveness. What metrics show whether the organization and its individual components are doing well? An organization will be effective only when the culture is supported by an appropriate business strategy and a structure that is appropriate for both the business and the desired culture.

At the heart of organizations’ cultures are commonly shared values. None is right or wrong, but organizations need to decide which values they will emphasize. These common values include:

  • Outcome orientation. Emphasizing achievements and results.
  • People orientation. Insisting on fairness, tolerance and respect for the individual.
  • Team orientation. Emphasizing and rewarding collaboration.
  • Attention to detail. Valuing precision and approaching situations and problems analytically.
  • Stability. Providing security and following a predictable course.
  • Innovation. Encouraging experimentation and risk-taking.
  • Aggressiveness. Stimulating a fiercely competitive spirit.
 
Great article on company culture benefits: Reduce Employee Turnover With a Great Company Culture

Is safety a part of your workplace culture?  I’m not talking about throwing up a nice slogan, a couple fancy posters, and playing lip service to it, but true cultural safety.

Check Out: Improve Workplace Safety Culture 6 Steps

Consider the following elements of a safety culture:

 

  • Buy-in from all stakeholders. All employees, contractors, partners and other stakeholders, at all levels, must be committed to safety.
  • Processes for hazard prevention and control. All stakeholders should understand how to prevent and control safety hazards using best practices and workplace safety technologies. It is also important that each person knows that these processes are part of everyone’s duties.
  • Ongoing training. To keep knowledge and techniques fresh, stakeholders should attend regular safety training.
  • Successes are celebrated. Stakeholders should be recognized or rewarded for their commitment to safety.

When safety is a part of your corporate culture, every stakeholder recognizes its importance. It becomes part of your organization’s continuous process improvement. And, most importantly, it’s seen as an investment, rather than a cost, since proactive safety measures have the power to save significant amounts of money, time and other resources.

It is very important to build and grow a safety culture, not just within your company’s overall culture, but as an overall culture of safety. Do you know how? Do you struggle with your safety culture?
Check out this good read: Leadership: How to Build an Ideal Safety Culture 
As you work to build a culture, and you’re looking at incorporation of the culture, look at every job, every responsibility, and see how the different aspects of the culture can be worked into each job, every task, and touch all parts.
A great example is this article: Incorporating Safety Management Into Your Project Management Role 
While looking to build a great culture, as much as I wish that it started and ended with safety, it has so much more importance. Also understand about making a culture of ethics and compliance. How Managers Create a Culture of Ethics and Compliance 

Accident Investigation: Root Cause Analysis

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Over the years, managers and leaders have written thousands of articles about the very complicated causes of accidents in the workplace. The consensus of opinion is that there is not normally one single cause of an accident or an incident. Instead, there are normally a combination of factors that contribute to the accident. These all come together under just the right circumstances to create an accident. Management thinking has moved on from the proposition that accidents just”happen.” But this has been replaced with a culture of blame.

The problem of accident causation and prevention appears to be a hugely complex problem. However, some industries have proved beyond doubt that it is possible to prevent or control the causes of accidents. For most industries, it doesn’t require huge resources to be successful in preventing accidents and incidents.

To better understand the circumstances that give rise to undesirable incidents, it would be wise to consider the four major elements that provide the source of accidents in the workplace.

Elements of a Root Cause Analysis

The first element is people. This includes everybody from the workers upwards. Its been well established that people are involved in a high percentage of incident causes. Normally, it’s the staff member that is the human element directly involved in an undesirable incident. What they do or don’t do is seen as one of the most common causal factors.

The second element is equipment. This includes tools and machinery. Since we have been using tools and machinery, they have been identified as one of the major causes of incidents and accidents. Because of this they have been targeted by legislation that has made provision for machine guarding and training. The improper design of controls on machinery and equipment are frequently found to be the cause of many incidents related to safety quality and output.

The third element is material. This is the stuff that people work with. Material can be sharp, heavy, hot or even toxic. Coming in contact with such things as explosives, chemicals such as solvents, dusts and noise can be a substantial source of undesirable incidents.

 The fourth element is the environment. This is all parts of the physical surroundings and include such things as the quality of air, lighting, heat, cold, humidity, fumes and even moisture. Increasingly, the environment is being identified as the cause of an ever-increasing number of diseases and health related conditions. It is associated with absenteeism and low work quality.

Check out additional components of an Accident Investigation Program

These four elements, to a greater or lesser degree, provide the source of causes that contribute to an undesirable incident. The investigation should include a scrutiny of one or all of these factors to pinpoint the cause of the incident or accident.  

If you are looking for assistance with completing a root cause investigation, I made a book to help you out, check it out on Amazon here

 

View & Download the Accident Investigation: Root Cause Analysis Training below

Accident investigation_Root_Cause_Analysis

Linkedin profile tips and Job search

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With the advancing world, how we live and work is constantly changing. Many industries that used to be labor-run are now automated, so working in a leadership position in any industry now is not how it used to be. There are many jobs that have become common due to the popularity of the internet, creating more job opportunities. The vastness of job opportunities and modern take on the job descriptions of many posts has made job searches around the world both more difficult and easier at the same time. The latter is because of the number of jobs available, while the former is observed because finding the right job between all of these opportunities becomes difficult. In fact, job searching is now a talent in itself.

LinkedIn is a service that serves simply as a Facebook for professionals, as many already call it. How it works is that any individual or organization can share their professional details online on a well-organized site that categorizes each type of experience, capabilities, and employment details. This serves as an online CV of a kind since many employers look at the LinkedIn profiles of people that they might employ.

While making it easy to look for jobs, LinkedIn also allows employers to research their potential employees and helps organizations and professionals connect with one another more easily.

This article will cover the job searching factor of LinkedIn, discussing how the service helps people look for jobs to find something that they are interested in and that they are suitable for, but first, let’s discuss how your LinkedIn shows how you are suitable for where you’re applying.

LinkedIn Profile Optimization

LinkedIn is a site with over 337 million professionals, making it one of the top networks for professional development as well as job searching. However, with all this traffic, it is difficult for an individual to stand out for any job. How you can assure this for yourself is by optimizing your LinkedIn profile to maximize your chances of successfully landing a job, which includes being able to build a powerful presence by making the most of its features and sharing your expertise.

Sharing All Your Necessary Professional Details

If you look at LinkedIn as an online, customizable CV, you will understand that adding information about yourself on this site will clearly be beneficial to those evaluating your profile. Completing and adding details about your employment history, including your current position, past positions, capabilities and skills, a professional picture of yourself or your industry, your education information as well your current industry and location makes for a LinkedIn profile that really sells itself.

Adding to all those details, you can also make your LinkedIn profile stand out by selecting a proper URL for yourself, which is SEO friendly as well as easy to remember. All of this is the basic information any user has to add for their profile to stand out.

Sharing Your Purpose

An excellent way to land a job is by fueling any chances to stand out in a recruitment search. The number one way to catch the eye of any recruiter to finally end that long job search of yours is to make your purpose clear.

Now, your purpose may be as simple as ‘looking for a job’ or can be tailored to explain with accurate detail what your purpose in the industry or for job searching is. Again, the latter can be simplified to a simple reason where one tells the type of job they’re searching for.

Recommendations

Getting recommendations from your peers is important. LinkedIn maintains and keeps these recommendations online, sharing them with professionals only. The peers that you get recommendations from may be one of your customers, colleagues, employers or people working for you.

Adding Skills

As stated before, this is a part of completing one’s professional profile on LinkedIn. Adding details about skills is much more sophisticated and professional on LinkedIn than just simply writing skills. Once you write about these skills, your peers and work group are sent a confirmation regarding this and the skills that are verified by people are known as endorsements.

Endorsements are very important for your LinkedIn profile as they show what skills you are known for, which would give the right impression to the recruiters as to why you’re suited for a job, hence making your job hunt easy for you.

Your Summary

We can look at this part of the LinkedIn profile as the very professional and influential counterpart of Facebook’s description. It has to be a precise summary about an individual’s professional life, what they have accomplished and what they have set out to accomplish. The summary can be about 200 characters long and is important for your profile to stand out, so be sure to write a precise and impressive summary that will catch the attention of recruiters.

Links to Relevant Websites

Add links to the websites of the organizations you work for, blogs you write, or any pages or publications that are relevant to your professional life. Editing these and adding in the right keywords for these sites is important too since it gives a good impression and helps recruiters browse through your online profile.

Order and Arrangement of Your Linkedin Profile

LinkedIn allows one to customize their profile considerably for ease of use and so that you may note down and showcase your accomplishments and abilities as best you can. One of the features that LinkedIn offers is the option to change the order of your profile to however you want it to be; the sections can be rearranged and suited especially for your professional profile. Rearranging the profile is easy too since all you require is a simple click-and-drag action to change the order.

Use Specific Keywords

What will help recruiters and potential connections find you is the use of precise and to-the-point keywords that you add to your profile. These have to be eye-catching and serve to give off a good impression. Another benefit that specific and catchy keywords provide is to search engine optimize your profile. The more relevant keywords you add, the more chances are of you to pop up on a Google search. This will help you end your job search by bringing organizations to you.

Add the Specifics

Writing about the projects you’ve worked on, the awards you’ve won, the causes you care about, and the places you’ve volunteered at will help brighten up your profile significantly. This will be the final touch to your profile and would help with your job hunt more than you think.

The causes you care about and the places you’ve volunteered at help describe how you are as a person and matter in the profile you’ve created for your job hunt.

Linkedin Job Search

Once your LinkedIn profile has been created and optimized to ensure you get some views every day or simply pull in a good audience, your job search will be made much easier since it increases your chance of getting selected by a lot. However, just optimizing your profile like this will only serve to increase your chances and raising the possibility of ending your job search altogether. Searching for a job yourself is a whole other story which requires patience and a very thorough approach.

This section of the article will cover how you can search for the jobs you are suited for so that you have a higher chance of landing one.

Check Out: Job Interview Ultimate Guide

Headline

After optimizing your profile and making sure all of your professional details are filled in and optimized for organizations, including a headline about your current job search status will let employers find you and scoop you in. However, this is very much a challenge, and although adding a catchy headline would draw in a number of views to your profile, if your profile isn’t edited to stand out, the headline won’t help with your job search at all.

Following Companies

LinkedIn offers more than just pages of individuals. This site with over 337 million professionals helps by making pages and details about companies themselves. These pages can be followed and it’ll be in your best interest to do that since that way, you’ll be up to date with the current events of every company while updating you if any of these companies is searching for people to recruit. This is a major step in your job search as your target companies will be right there for you. Thus, you can research about them as well as keep yourself up to date about any opportunities that arise.

Connect

While you’re searching for your job, a lot of things factor into finding just the right job. One of the most important steps you should follow is to increase your connections as much as possible and as soon as possible. After creating a good account, showcasing your abilities, getting recommendations and following companies, it’s very important to connect with as many individuals and organizations as possible. Remember that this will help you connect further with other people and all of these connections will be helpful for your career at more than just one point in your life.

I am always open to connecting with people on LinkedIn, here is my profile

So what this basically means that although LinkedIn profiles help showcase your skills and connect with people, nothing helps more than promoting yourself in person among your peers. So watch out for the people that can be of use to you. Keep a look out for well-known companies that you can work for or new and rising companies that you can help promote both in person and on the internet. As we mentioned before, this site is like a Facebook for professional connections, so even though making new connections through LinkedIn itself is efficient, it’s better to connect with people you have worked with, people you have worked for as well as the people working for you since you know their capabilities well and they know yours.

Contacting Peers

Once you have made connections, contacting them through LinkedIn is also easy since the site offers the option of messaging your connections privately. With a fully functional instant messaging option, you can manage your work optimally.

This feature also helps with job searches as you can contact many companies and individuals regarding your job directly through LinkedIn and keep track of the available positions and their current state.

 

Conclusion

A lot of things factor into a successful job search, including your achievements and capabilities, but what bears fruit in your job search is not the achievements themselves but how you showcase them. Adding what you learn from any experience and the skills you have learned throughout your personal life that will affect your professional life, pinpointing certain strengths, and using precise keywords will ensure that your LinkedIn profile is search engine optimized, which will, in turn, ensure that your profile pops up on searches on Google and other search engines whenever a search about a particular keyword is made.

Adding to that, completing your profile is necessary with the summary, causes you care about, recommendations, and the entirety of the sections listed above so that your profile provides all information to any recruiter. The advantage this gives you is significant and it can factor into your job search well enough for better job opportunities.

In conclusion, the jobs out there are numerous, but ironically, finding jobs – especially the right one – is really an issue many of us face. In fact, job hunts of even the most capable of people bear no fruit until they finally catch their big break, so LinkedIn is a service that comes in very handy. Keep all of the tips mentioned above in mind, keep seeking opportunities and stay vigilant in your job search because on LinkedIn, the right job is just a few clicks away.

Effective Communication Skills: LISTENING

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An important aspect of enhancing one’s communication skills is becoming a good listener.

People tend to place the emphasis on speaking as the most important aspect of communication, but this is not necessarily so. Breaking down the percentage of time spent throughout the day for an average

person engaged in one of the four aspects of communication:

  • Listening-42%
  • Talking-32%
  • Reading-15%
  • Writing-11%

The reality is that the majority of people only listen for approximately 25 percent of the time. And in many cases, most people only listen to the first couple of words from a speaker before starting to formulate a response in their minds. There is a distinct difference between listening and hearing.

Merriam-Webster (1994) describes “hearing” as: “the process, function, or power of perceiving sound” (pg. 346).

Merriam-Webster (1994) describe “listen” as: “to pay attention in order to hear” (pg. 433).

The key to becoming a better listening is to stop simply hearing what someone is saying and to start listening to what is being said.


The following are some suggestions for becoming a better active listener:

  • Do No Interrupt.

To become an effective listener, wait until the speaker is finished before providing feedback or expressing opinion. People have a tendency to become impatient while listening and cannot wait for the speaker to finish. Not only is this rude, but it will drastically limit the information exchange and damage the communication process.

Check Out: Effective Communication Skills – NONVERBAL
  • Do Not Jump to Conclusions.

Do not assume that you know what the speaker is going to say. People can process information faster than one can speak (up to three times faster). For this reason, one might start formulating a response before receiving all the necessary information. This can lead to confusion and poor response on behalf of the listener.

  • Do Not Judge the Speaker.

Do not allow ones opinion of the speaker to interfere with the message being received. The speaker’s accent, speed of delivery (talks too fast or too slow), appearance, and age are just a few factors that can create bias and limit effective listening. Concentrate on the content of the message, not on the speaker.

  • Take Notes to Hold Interest.

Not only is taking notes a good way of retaining information for a later time, but it also helps the listener maintain interest, shows the speaker that you are paying attention, and helps eliminate distractions.

  • Ask Questions.

Asking good questions, paraphrasing, and providing feedback are essential to good listening. This will help one listen more carefully and will also strengthen the relationship between the speaker and the listener. Good listeners play an active role in the communication process including head nodding, eye contact, and asking questions. Some rewards for becoming a good listener include “expansion of knowledge, vocabulary development and language development, ability to evaluate messages, passing examinations, saving time, accruing financial benefits, and short-cutting acquisition of knowledge. This will also help in the areas of public relations, investigations, and crisis/emergency management situations.

By using these listening suggestions, practicing them, and putting them into action, the security officer can maintain an open line of communication and will be better able to obtain sufficient information for reporting to supervisors and preparing for investigations. The security officer will also be able to gather this information while continuing to project a professional image on behalf of his or her employer.

How important do you feel listening is as part of effective communication?

Effective Communication Skills: NONVERBAL

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Another aspect of effective communication is a basic understanding of body language. Studies have shown that more than 50 percent of a spoken message’s meaning can be determined by nonverbal gestures. It is claimed that only 15 percent of what is said is verbal and at least 85 percent of interpersonal communications are nonverbal.

For this reason, it is important for the speaker and the listener to be aware of three important characteristics and principles of nonverbal communications.

First, most nonverbal communication is automatic and unconscious. This means that it is essentially more difficult for the speaker and the listener to control their nonverbal responses than their verbal ones. It is because of this factor that most people will place more emphasis on the meaning of nonverbal clues as opposed to the actual spoken message. It is equally important for the speaker to be aware of their own body language in order to make certain they are conveying the message without contradiction to the verbal message.

Second, if there is an attempt by one person to deceive another with words, there will likely be a conflict betrayed by leakage of nonverbal cues. This means that a false statement provided by the speaker will likely be accompanied by a nonverbal cue, or nonverbal leakage, which actually represents the truth. One should also be aware of a conscious effort on behalf of the speaker to suppress nonverbal responses. For example, if one attempts to control their facial expression while providing a false statement, one might unconsciously display the truth through nonverbal expressions of the hands or feet.

The third characteristic to consider is that different types of nonverbal cues are usually interconnected and congruent in manifesting the same attitude or emotion. This is how two different people listening to the same story can come to the same conclusion despite paying attention to different types of communication cues. One might be more aware of the tone of voice of the speaker, while the other pays more attention to the visual cues, yet both interpret the same meaning of the message.

The following are some examples of nonverbal cues to be aware of for improving ones effective communication skills:

  • Eye Behavior

This includes eye contact, tears, and pupil dilation. Eye contact can signify a willingness to listen and truth (direct) or avoidance and deception (no contact or very little contact.) Tears can indicate a wide variety of emotions, but most importantly, they tend to indicate the strength of the feeling. The dilation of pupils can be a good indicator of alarm, excitement, interest, and satisfaction. Conversely, the contraction of pupils can represent lack of interest, boredom, or tranquility.

  • Facial Expression and Head Movements

The human face is capable of expressing more than one emotion at a time. However, the mouth of the speaker is more restricted than the eyes. There are different degrees of smiles, different degrees of spontaneity of smiles, and different degrees of congruity with the expression of other parts of the face, particularly the eyes. Because of this, it is very difficult to interpret the movements of the mouth and their meanings. One should seek additional training opportunities to become proficient in this area. Head movements such as up and down, which normally indicates agreement, or back and forth, which normally indicates disagreement are common. These movements can be very subtle during conversation, but can be very helpful in determining attitudes.

  • Shoulders

Shoulders can be a good indicator of stress. As tension begins to rise, so will one’s shoulders. Conversely, as one becomes more relaxed, so will the shoulders

  • Arms and Hands

Arms folded across the chest, animated talking with arms and hands, trembling or fidgety hands, fidgeting with an object while speaking, playing with hair, clenched fists, and pounding the table are just a few of the many indicators with arms and hands. Most of these will be self-explanatory to the observer and will likely provide the bulk of the nonverbal cues within a conversation.

Check Out: 5 Nonverbal Indicators in Interviews

These are just a few examples of nonverbal cues for the security professional to be aware of when conducting an interview or simply carrying on a conversation within the normal scope of duties. It is very important to keep in mind the different personalities and different cultural beliefs one might encounter when interpreting nonverbal cues. Do not jump to conclusions and be certain to take in the whole picture before making an evaluation.

 

Job Interview Ultimate Guide

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A job interview is obviously something that must occur when seeking a job as a security guard, and many people get very stressed out over a job interview. This job guide will help you relax and be prepared for the interview.

Major Considerations During a Job Interview

Make a Connection with the Interviewer

Depending on how popular or sought after the job you are interviewing for is you will have a lot of competition for a few positions. A stellar interview is crucial to make you stand out from the rest of the crowd. To give yourself an added edge and cement yourself in your interviewer’s mind, try to make a personal connection with them at some point in the interview.

A personal connection can take numerous forms. If you are in the interviewer’s office and they have a picture of a sailboat on their wall (and you happen to love sailing), make an appropriate comment that identifies you as a sailor too. This may not put you above others more qualified than you but it will help you to stand out amongst those you are in direct competition with.

Take your cues from the interviewer, if they seem uncomfortable with relaying any personal information or are not comfortable veering off topic then follow their lead. If a personal conversation does develop, let the interviewer guide it. When they bring it to a close and either get back to the questions or say good bye, leave it at that.

At the end of the day, interviewers want to hire people that are qualified and who will fit in with the rest of the team at the company. If you can make a connection and have the right skill sets you will be giving yourself a better chance than someone else. You will also help the interviewer recall who you are and stick out in their mind as that candidate who knew a lot about sailing.

If you are not comfortable with discussing personal topics during an interview, don’t feel that you must go out of your way to do so. At the end of the day, your qualifications are what you should be highlighting.

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Pauses and Silences are Okay

There are going to be a lot of periods during an interview when there are going to be pauses in conversation or flat out silence. This can be initiated by you or the interviewer and in most cases either is not an indicator that something isn’t going good.

You can ask for a moment to think of an answer and during this time there is most likely going to be complete silence. This is fine and perfectly normal, don’t get distracted because no one is talking, use the time you have asked for wisely and think of the best answer or example you can give.

If the interviewer is taking notes (and most likely they are), be comfortable with the fact that there is going to be pauses in between questions and they try and write everything down. This is actually a good thing because it means they have liked what you have to say and want to remember it when they are later making a decision on who to hire. Don’t feel the need to fill this space, let them continue writing and wait for the next question.

If you have answered a question and it is met by silence and the interviewer is not writing anything down, you may be at a loss as to what you should do. It could signal that the interviewer is expecting more information or they are not satisfied with the answer. You won’t know unless you ask, “Do you want me to elaborate on that?” If the answer is no, just patiently wait for the next question to be asked.

Don’t worry that the interviewer is not praising you on your answer to each question and continue onto the next one. They do not want to give you an indication of how you are doing during the interview and are trained to be neutral when responding to answers, if the respond at all.

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Procedural Questions

Procedures are a part of life, especially in the working world. Each company has their own set of policies and rules that they expect their employees to follow. An interviewer is going to ask questions to determine if you would do things they way they want (for instance making a sale or handling a customer complaint). Without training, you will not know with any degree of certainty how the company would want you to handle different situations but there are ways to answer that can increase your chances of getting the job.

What an interviewer is looking for in an answer is your philosophy towards circumstances that occur in the company. Your natural instincts and personality is going to come through at some point no matter what you have been trained to do. Questions like, “How would you satisfy a customer if they wanted to return something after the return policy has expired?” can be tricky to answer. The best way to answer them is to begin with saying, “Of course, if hired I would abide by the company’s guidelines – but in this circumstance I would…”

By starting your answer with this phrase you are showing that you recognize a company is going to have its own policies and ways of doing things and that you are flexible enough to modify your way of doing things to align with those processes. Even role playing scenarios for are a test to see if your way of thinking is in line with the
company’s. This genre of question can backfire on you though if your answer is completely opposite what the company is looking for. If you have done your research on the company prior to the interview you should have a good idea of how they handle customers and sales in general.

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Answers Should be Thorough but to the Point

If you love to talk and when you are nervous can go on and on, or if you are the opposite and clam up when you are in a stressful situation – you need to be conscious of this and not do either in an interview. When asked a question, an interview wants enough information that will help them understand what you are talking about, but not extraneous irrelevant information.

If you are answering a question using an example from your previous or current job and there is a lot of jargon or acronyms – try to use more a common place term that people are familiar with or explain what you mean in the beginning. If you are asked to describe a time when you lead a project – explain what the project was about, how many people you managed and any key points that demonstrate what a great job you did. What you don’t want to do is get side-tracked and give details that aren’t relevant to the question. The interviewer is not going to be interested in a play by play of the entire project – they want to know your role in it.

Keep on topic; take a moment before answering a question to organize the details in your mind. You don’t want to start answering, get sidetracked and forget the point you were trying to make. If you stay on topic and know what you are going to say, you are going to be able to keep the interviewer’s attention.

If you are a person of few words, practice with a friend or family member before your interview. Learn how to expand your answers so you give thorough information without living the interviewer wanting more. But if you are in doubt, less is better – an interviewer will ask follow-up questions if necessary.

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Ask the Interviewer Questions

Okay, you have made it to the end of your interview and the interviewer says it is now your turn. They want to know if you have any questions for them. And most likely you do: “How did I do” and “Are you going to hire me” – unfortunately you can’t ask either one. But there are questions that you can ask to glean some information on how you performed and to determine if the company is a right fit for you.

Although it is not acceptable to ask how you did in an interview, it is okay and encouraged to ask what the next steps are and the timeline for them. Depending on how this is answered, you may be able to figure out their reaction to you. But this is not full-proof and is not a guarantee. If they take the time to explain all the checks they need to go through, how many people they have left to interview and so on, they are probably interested and want you to understand that there is still steps left in the process. If they only tell you that you will hear from them within a certain period of time via letter, well it isn’t as promising.

Look at the opportunity to ask your own questions as your chance to interview the company. Of course you have done your research prior to attending and have made up a list that you wrote down before attending. Show your preparedness and pull out the list to ask your questions. Things like company direction and expansion show an interest in the business. Feel free to take notes; it can earn you brownie points. Ask questions that are important to you as well, if vacation time and benefits are a deal breaker for you, find out now what the company has to offer.

EHS professionals ignore employee health

Quit Ignoring Employee Health

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In the current world, with COVID, many EHS professionals find themselves talking more and more about employee health, being in charge of health aspects of employees that they never considered part of their jobs.

This is a great time  to talk about the H in EHS.

As EHS professionals, we all know our responsibilities in environmental and safety, but often overlook the health aspect of the job. Sure, some say “health” falls in line with “environmental” and “safety”, because it is all about the health of an employee, but I think we should do more for the “health” of employees. Because if we drive health as part of our total strategy, it can actually improve workplace safety in the long run.

Does this mean we should be talking about gyms and how to workout? No. We don’t even need to reinvent the wheel, because many companies already have programs that we can utilize and champion for employee safety.

How many EHS professionals can talk of their company’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which can offer things such as:

  • Fitness, Nutrition, Weight Loss Programs and Incentives
  • Health and Wellness Resources
  • Stress Management Assistance
  • Parenting and Family Issues
  • Elder and Child Care Resource Locators
  • Personal Finance and Education
  • Retirement Planning Assistance
  • Debt Counseling and Debt Restructuring
  • Wills, Forms and Legal Templates
  • Legal Information
  • Stress, Grief, Depression and Trauma Counseling Services
  • Mental and Behavioral Health Counseling Services and Assistance
  • Domestic and Workplace Violence Resource Center
  • Tobacco Cessation
  • Alcohol, Drugs and Substance Abuse Counseling Assistance

These sort of things can help employees deal with the stress, pressure, and issues going on in their personal lives, which can lead to issues at work.

If someone is stressing about financial issues at home, they can be distracted, which can lead to an injury.

So as EHS professionals, why do we so often, let HR drive these programs? Why do we allow these programs to be talked about once in awhile?

Why are we not the champions for a program like this? It clearly can help employee health, but too often, EHS professionals don’t concentrate on the health of employees is this manner. And I often wonder why not?

Check Out: Corporate Volunteering Leads to Engaged Employees

Even looking beyond EAP, many workplaces have Employee Wellness Programs, which are often tied to health  insurance, and have direct incentives to improving employee health, but far too few EHS professionals can talk about these program, and even fewer champion them.

Now let’s consider, what these sort of programs can offer:

  • Wellness Screenings
  • Life Coaching Sessions
  • Wellness Challenges
  • Ergonomic Services
  • Movement efficiency testing – pre and post employment
  • Post-offer employment testing
  • Early intervention programs
  • Physical and occupational therapy

These are great resources, and are something that as EHS professionals, we should be touting, but too often they are overlooked, not talked about, or not even realized they are available.

In fact many corporate wellness programs are a once a year thing to talk about, which means that essentially the program is a failure. Or worse, the company wellness program is just an afterthought, something listed in a benefits guide, an never talked about.

There are many resources talking about the failures of corporate wellness programs, I would like to highlight a list I found of the failings, so we can talk about it a bit more.

14 Reasons Many Corporate Health and Wellness Programs Fail

  1. Activity vs Results Oriented Wellness Efforts
  2. Overly Complicated Programming. Simpler is Always Better for your Corporate Health and Wellness Program
  3. Incentives That Use Sticks Rather Than Carrots
  4. Use Eisting Staff to Design and Run the Corporate Health and Wellness Program
  5. Poor Leadership Support
  6. Fail to Create a Health Promoting Culture and Environment
  7. Incentivizing the Wrong Things
  8. Expect a Static Wellness Portal to Be a Wellness Program
  9. Poor Communications within your Corporate Health and Wellness Program
  10. Don’t Include Spouses and Significant Others
  11. Don’t Have a Functioning Wellness Committee
  12. Keep the Corporate Health and Wellness Program in a Silo.
  13. Treat the Wellness Program as a Perk, Not a Benefit
  14. Poor Program Marketing

So reason 14, Poor Program Marketing, is something a department focused on employee HEALTH should own, or at least support. Sure, some may say “our liability ends at the door”, but that isn’t a basic fact. Employees bring their health to work, if they have poor health, or undo stress, it can impact their work, it can cause distractions, it can cause attendance issues. All of which does impact the workplace.

 

I believe more EHS departments need to focus on the H a bit more, especially in the world today.

What do you think?