The Safety Journey

The Safety Journey

It’s in our nature to try and make things better. To evolve. 

A Job Safety Analysis, or JSA, is driven by those principles. The JSA forces us to observe our surroundings to identify risks or hazards that might be encountered during the course of completing a task and to develop measures to reduce or eliminate them. In today’s world. JSAs are often mandatory and documented; and, they’re a critical element in the review and learn process.

And if you’re safety-minded, it’s likely you’re very observant, too. It almost goes hand-in-hand. A Safety Professional is constantly evaluating and improving and that’s probably why highly visible traffic cones became a standard tool for parked vehicles. 

For years, Safety Practices required vehicle operators to walk around their vehicle before getting behind the wheel. The practice initiates a visual inspection of the vehicle whereby the operator will look at the condition of the vehicle for such things as broken taillights or headlights, cracked windshields or low tire pressure – anything that could impeded the safe operation of the vehicle and contribute to an incident. 

The "Walk Around Your Vehicle” awareness campaign reduced motor vehicle incidents but it didn’t eliminate them, and so the practice was updated by placing safety cones at the front and rear of parked vehicles. Doing so forces the operator to retrieve them before driving away and increases the likelihood that they will also visually note the condition of their vehicle when doing so. As an added bonus, the fluorescent safety cones signal to passing motorists that someone is likely to be nearby. 

Handy Dandy Driving Tip!

The next time you’re on a drive with the family and the kids are bored, ask them to count motorcycles while you’re on the road. Make a game out of it! Motorcycles aren’t as readily visible as cars and trucks and asking your kids to notice them when they’re young will likely increase the likelihood that they see them as they get older when they’re behind the wheel. 

Mike Sullivan – President – Utility Safety Partners