Predicted Safety

Trends of 2022
Explore behavioral safety, occupational safety and health, Lean manufacturing,
and management responsibilities through the eyes of safety professionals.
 Introduction

The subject of occupational safety and health is under constant change.

Whether that be because of modified regulations, new regulatory
standards, or both employee and employer expectations. Each of those
examples influences the way we look at work, how we train people to
safely do their jobs, and ultimately, how we keep both ourselves and
others accountable for their actions.

We are barreling into the new year with the hope of COVID-19 gradually
releasing its grip on our nation’s workers and all of its citizens. The
editorial team at Creative Safety Supply has spoken to nine safety experts
and business owners, each specializing in a range of different workplace
safety sectors. We’ve gathered what we believe are going to be the most
prominent safety trends you can expect to see throughout 2022.

2 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

 What is Occupational Safety?

Safety can mean something different from employer to employer. Yes, physical
well-being is always the first thought when people bring up occupational
safety. That aspect of safety covers areas such as electrical safety, hazardous
chemicals, the use of personal protective equipment, and hundreds of other
scenarios that produce risk.

What about psychological safety in terms of the need to feel safe and valued
in the workplace? What about the foundations of safe behavior through
comprehensive training modules? From what we’ve learned from our experts,
workplace safety doesn’t just exist in terms of bodily harm. In fact, there’s a lot
that goes into getting to, and maintaining, zero injuries.

With 2020 and 2021 behind us, safety and health experts, management,
employees, and leadership are beginning to realize what safety really entails. The
days of employees convincing themselves that their well-being takes a backseat
when it comes to working at their job are no more. To prove that point, many of
the professionals that we’ve spoken to agree that when employees are well in
terms of their mental health, they tend to have a higher satisfaction rate with their
job, leading them to practice more safe behaviors.

This guide is going to lead you through three different categories of trends:
general workplace trends, psychological safety trends, and physical safety
trends. Each category has several individual key predictions that you can expect
to see in the coming year regarding workplace safety around the country, and
perhaps around the world.

3 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

General Workplace Trends
We made it out of 2021! Congratulations! That’s great and all, but we aren’t out of the red yet. In
terms of general workplace safety trends, 2022 is looking to be a year full of transitions. We’re
going to see career changes, a higher focus on employee health, and a supply chain that is
slowly mending from its long battle with the pandemic.

Despite this upward trend in positive workplace changes, it might be a little rocky on the way up.
Let’s discuss what you’re likely going to see.

Career Changes and Staffing Challenges

If you haven’t heard the term “Great Resignation” yet, then here it is! During the pandemic many
people took the jump into changing careers. Leaving their current jobs to find new opportunities.
There are many factors contributing to this workforce shift (beyond the purview of this guide),
and experts predict this trend will continue throughout 2022.

While this change is proving to be excellent for the populous in terms of mending symptoms of
burnout and eliminating toxic workplaces from people’s lives, it has and will continue to prove
a challenge to the workplaces that are losing workers and suddenly gaining lots of new talent.
We’re specifically talking about:

High Training Demands – Training a high influx of new workers puts incredible strain on
facilities to get new employees up to speed. Not only do you have to train a larger amount of
new people, but you must also do it in a way that is the most efficient, and in a way that imparts
the best safety information and protocol possible.
 A Lack of Staff – Next, we have a lack of staff. Yes! You hired all those new employees, which is
excellent. But those new workers probably won’t be able to accomplish everything a seasoned
employee can do until they’ve been fully trained. This means experienced workers will have
trouble keeping up with the workload until the new workers are up to speed.

Experimenting with New Ways of Working – Lastly, we have workplaces making changes to
the way they work. This could mean offering more positions that are work from home, a hybrid
schedule, or even developing new safety procedures at work to better protect employees.

There is a lot of change happening right now, but that doesn’t mean transitions are bad. In fact,
it could be said that they are more akin to growing pains. It may hurt now but we’ll be bigger and
stronger soon enough.

Working to Better Understand Employee Needs

As this workforce shift occurs, it can be helpful for employers to gather feedback on what
employees require in terms of working conditions. This can be anything from:

 Better medical, dental, and eye insurance offerings

 Schedule flexibility such as a condensed work week or a hybrid schedule

 A safer environment physically

 Recognition for good work

There are certainly more examples of employee needs out there. Luckily, those can be identified
with a simple questionnaire or chatting with employees in person.

However, it’s best to solicit feedback from current employees. If you only gather feedback during
an exit interview, you may be talking to a bitter employee who is ready to leave. Not only that, but
the company will also fall into what we discussed in the last section—too many new employees
and not enough time to train them properly.

Employers are beginning to understand that we as human beings want to work to live rather
than live to work. People aren’t interested in spending 50–60-hour weeks at work on top of being
exposed to dangerous working conditions just to get by in terms of finding housing and putting
enough food on the table.

5 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

 Keep this positive trend going through the year by letting
your employees know that you care about them and want to “So how do you
make working at your facility a good experience.
increase a person’s
wellbeing, well
part of it is
Fight Against Safety Complacency showing gratitude.”
In our ongoing quest to become better at being safe in the – Dr. E. Scott Geller
workplace, one of the biggest challenges we must always
watch out for, even in the new year, are complacent workers.

Being complacent with safety regulations and basic safe practices or procedures is probably
one of the largest offenders when it comes to serious injuries, and fatalities. When we say
complacency, it’s about going on auto-pilot, which makes people more prone to being unaware
of their surroundings. Complacency can also mean taking short cuts even though those short
cuts aren’t the safest option to complete the task they are working on.

For example, OSHA’s 10 most cited safety standards include:

1 Fall protection 29 CFR 1926.501 5,295 violations

2 Respiratory protection 29 CFR 1910.134 2,527 violations

3 Ladders in construction 29 CFR 1926.1053 2,026 violations

4 Scaffolding in construction 29 CFR 1926.451 1,948 violations

5 Hazard communication 29 CFR 1910.1200 1,947 violations

Control of
6 hazardous energy
29 CFR 1910.147 1,698 violations 

7 Training for fall protection 29 CFR 1926.503 1,666 violations  

8 Eye and face protection 29 CFR 1926.102 1,452 violations 

Powered
9 industrial trucks
29 CFR 1910.178 1,420 violations 

10 Machinery and machine guards 29 CFR 1910.212 1,113 violations

6 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

 Combat this trend by making your workplace more engaging! Put up visual communication
such as signs, labels, or floor tape that catches the attention of your workers and keeps them
accountable for their safe behavior around the workplace. Complacency can also be subdued
with a set or several sets of standardized procedures.

Realizing the Importance of Occupational Safety and Health Practitioners

Workplace safety isn’t conducted by volunteers within the workplace anymore. These positions are
held at the same level as some of the highest leadership personnel in a facility. The experts we spoke
to alluded to a more encompassing occupational safety awareness, one that operates at all levels.

With hopefully the worst part of the pandemic behind us, companies,
“Another key management, stakeholders, and the public are starting to realize
thing that has the importance of occupational safety and heath practitioners.
come out of the Occupational safety and health practitioners are accredited or
COVID pandemic, certified to design, implement, and evaluate a business’ health and
when you’re safety program.
talking about
the role of an All of this is done to improve safety, productivity, and improve the
occupational health of the employees who work there. These professionals are
safety and also responsible for advocating for policies that protect workers from
health occupational hazards.
practitioner,
we have finally COVID-19 was the identifying factor that led to this realization. You
gotten an might call it the silver lining of the pandemic. Regardless, employers
executive seat had to rely on industrial hygienists to help businesses follow both
at the table.”
– Paul Colangelo
new government mandates to control the spread of the virus and to standardize these new
processes to prevent the spread of illnesses in the future.

With that door open, it leaves room for other improvements to be accepted and made within
other workplaces as well.

Collecting Data on the ROI of Safety Technology

There are all kinds of different health related wearables on the market today. Everyone knows
about the Fitbit and Apple Watch, not that companies are suddenly going to provide these
tools specifically for their employees, but that’s the idea of safety technology. Something that
monitors the health of an employee while they are working. Not only will it provide crucial
information about an employee’s health to the employee themselves, but it gives them data that
will help them see if they need to be accommodated at the workplace.

Wearables can include sensors for hard hats, gas sensors, apps that ask employees questions
before they go to work for the day, or even apps that employees
can use to ask safety related questions to their supervisor. “I see a number of
These specialized tools can help employees prevent companies looking
themselves from getting injured, help them manage fatigue, for what’s next,
and overall, increase their awareness around the workplace. what we can do
better with our
technology. I see
a lot of apps
becoming available
to help companies,
whether that it’s
general industry
or construction.
You know, putting
it in the palm of
the hand of the
employee, where
it’s needed.”
– Marc McClure
Supply Chain Delays
Remember the toilet paper shortage of 2020? What about the chip shortage and the rise in used
car prices? Unfortunately, it has been predicted that the supply chain will suffer throughout 2022
and perhaps into 2023 as we slowly recover from the pandemic. That means there will continue
to be problems with bottlenecks and labor shortages into the foreseeable future.

A combination of negative factors has led to the problems we have been seeing within the
supply chain in the last 2 years. The first and foremost example being pandemic related. The
supply chain has suffered from COVID-19 in terms of:

Lockdowns Factory Labor Constant

Closures Shortages Fluctuations
in Demand

These events oftentimes cause panic buying in both the public and corporations. However,
that demand only puts further strain on the employees and companies working to produce
products, causing them to fall behind even more. Not to mention the driver shortages that
already exist, so even if all the product is ready to be shipped out, there’s still going to be a
pinch point that effects delivery.

While both COVID-19 and extreme weather are a couple of the largest problems in an exhausted
supply chain, other problems such as only operating on an on-demand principle or only having
a handful of businesses as the sole providers of products, like computer chips, also pose a
crippling risk to the supply chain.
 Tools to Improve General Workplace Safety
Communication is one of the most essential pieces to workplace safety. Not only does
communication help reform training into something more standardized, but it also allows both
employers and employees to talk freely about what they need from each other, how to achieve
those actions, and develop a relationship in terms of retention.

Let’s take a look at some general workplace safety tools and methods that can be used to
improve communication within the workplace. Those being Deming’s funnel experiment and
regularly performing a Gemba walk.

Remember Deming’s Funnel Experiment

It’s only natural for humans to want to fix something

immediately after subpar results reveal themselves
within a process. However, these “quick fixes” as some
call them, are more detrimental than they may realize,
and instead leading to more variation than if the original
random variations were carefully analyzed before
jumping to a decision.

To prove this point, Dr. W. Edwards Deming created the

funnel experiment. The statistician did this by dropping
a marble through a funnel aimed at a target. He would
then note where the marble fell, whether that be on
the targeted point or somewhere else. With vigorous
research, Deming proved with this method that if the funnel was moved after every variation,
then it would leave the results with even more variation than when the experiment began.

The funnel experiment perfectly describes the negative outcomes of changing multiple aspects
of a process every time something goes wrong without first going through and studying why
variation is happening in the first place. He refers to this action as tampering. Tampering
could be anything from adjusting a particular process if the result did not meet the standard
requirements, to using the current output to determine quota.

You may be wondering why this relates to workplace safety.

Imagine being trained by a supervisor or an employee that has been at the company for a long
time. If the training process isn’t standardized then the risk of teaching bad habits, using risky
shortcuts, or even just omitting important information is almost guaranteed to happen with each

10 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

 new trainer. This variability, just like in the funnel experiment, is referred to as the training funnel.
Each new trainer gives out information that doesn’t quite hit that X in terms of standardized
training, eventually teaching new habits that create more variability in a certain process.

Deming’s solution to this is to make sure to study all the possible causes of variation BEFORE
making any changes as tampering with the process without data is more likely to worsen the
rate of variation. Not only does this lead to defective product and potentially dangerous working
conditions, but it also puts more burden on employees to adapt to new rules that may not have
even been necessary if the decision-making team was more methodical with their data.

Utilize Gemba

“The Japanese had a concept called Gemba. In Lean

manufacturing that means you go to where the value is
created, you go to the front line. That’s where you’re
going to learn where the value is being lost. In safety
it is exactly the same thing. The Gemba there is you got
to go to where the risk is being experienced to really
understand the people who are at risk and the management
system that puts the worker in a position of risk.”
– Dr. Timothy Ludwig

Gemba, a Japanese word meaning “the real place,” is a beloved Lean manufacturing tool for those
practicing continuous improvement. This method is usually used when managers and supervisors
are wanting to improve efficiency within the production line. However, this isn’t done from a desk.
What makes Gemba so unique is that it requires upper management to observe what’s happening
on the front lines. The Gemba walk, as it is affectionately called, actively works to improve upper
management and worker communication.

With the opportunity to observe workers and talk to them about their concerns, the ones doing the
observing are able to gather meaningful data that gives them the information they need to remedy
any hiccups within the system.

11 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

We spoke to Dr. Tim Ludwig on the matter of Gemba. In fact, it’s one of his favorite Lean methods
to use! Efficiency and safety aren’t taken care of separately in Gemba. If done correctly, you’ll find
solutions that can not only improve worker participation in terms of their own safety, but also
make the entire process much simpler.

Dr. Ludwig adds “In Lean manufacturing there’s a big focus on cutting the fat to really understand
the issue at the front line. As a behaviorist looking at safety, too often I start analyzing these
programs and I see they’ve overburdened the workforce with rules, PPE, and forms, and stuff like
that. The result is the workers either take a shortcut, they don’t do it, or they won’t report some
of the stuff that’s happening because the response to that report is adding more rules or adding
more PPE. In that case if you’re adding burden on the worker, they’re not going to participate.”
 Psychological Safety Trends
Psychological safety is a term that’s starting to catch on in the working world. It isn’t just about
physical safety anymore! Unfortunately, to get to this realization, society had to go through a
global pandemic for people to understand that well-being isn’t just about protecting workers from
bodily harm.

Many people have probably been affected emotionally

“What does safety mean throughout the pandemic. This may be because of a sudden
in terms of employees? transition into isolation by working from home, the death
Obviously, there is of a loved one, or perhaps tensions have been high in the
the natural instinct workplace due to heightened stress from harsh working
of a safe environment conditions. Those can range from longer shifts, or more
from a standpoint of responsibilities, to even resentment towards those with
providing a physically differing worldviews.
safe workplace. But
safety also means
employees feeling
mentally safe.”
– Richard Kneece
 Here are the psychological safety trends that we’ve identified for 2022.

1. Increased Focus on Psychological and Psychosocial Safety

Both the terms psychological and psychosocial are often mistaken for each other or
used interchangeably when in fact they both have very different meanings.

Psychological Safety Psychosocial Safety

refers to the mindset of the individual. For
example, this can be feeling comfortable
with speaking up in a team environment
without fear of repercussions
refers to the interpersonal relationships
and communication between individuals.
Working conditions also fall under this
category because these can directly impact
a worker’s psychological well-being.

These two concepts are becoming more

commonplace as working conditions are improved
throughout all industries. In fact, the pandemic “You need to give those
worked to amplify the awareness of both people the permission
psychological and psychosocial safety by forcing to push back, to let
employers to look at how their facilities operate in them say “I’m not
terms of worker satisfaction and worker retention. comfortable with this.”
One of the likely causes of this includes career Or “I haven’t done
changes that employees have embarked on to find this before in this
working conditions that meet their expectations. scenario.” You have to
give the employee the
power to back up. Then
you can take a step
back and say, “ok let’s
rethink this.” Are you
giving your employees
enough room to be able
to have that kind of
discussion?”
– Brett Brenner

14 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

 A step in the right direction has been taken in terms of increasing awareness about poor
psychological risk management in the workplace, that solution being

ISO 45003:2021Occupational health and safety management — Psychological health and

safety at work — Guidelines for managing psychosocial risks.

The new ISO standard specifically states, “[p]sychosocial

hazards are increasingly recognized as major challenges “I would believe the
to health, safety and wellbeing at work.” cause and effect of
the relationship, if
According to ISO’s standard, harmful psychosocial
people are feeling
environments include situations such as:
miserable and
disrespected at work,
 The nature of the work being performed that it negatively
 Scheduling affects their health
 Workplace culture in different ways.”
 Workplace relationships – Mark Graban

There are certainly more varying scenarios that

have the potential of surfacing within the workplace, but these risks have been proven to
affect a person’s phycological safety. In other words, an employee’s well-being suffers in
stress inducing environments. The impact on their psychological well-being includes:

 Symptoms of depression
 Addiction
 The development of chronic health problems
 Thoughts of suicide

Workplace suicides have increased drastically since 2005 due to harmful psychosocial
environments employees are exposed to. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded
307 workplace fatalities by suicide in 2019, the highest level on record that the nation
has experienced.

15 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

 With those sobering numbers in mind, this new ISO standard contains the tools
needed in terms of best practice methods for analyzing psychosocial risks within the
workplace. Employers will have the right tools to help them make the workplace more
accommodating for employees. With that being said, the recognition of mental health
as a whole is, and will be, incredibly important in the next coming year.

You can read our article on ISO 45003 here.

“We need to envision
what is it that 2. Increased Emphasis on Employee
we aspire for our Communication and Inclusion
organization to Fostering a workplace culture that promotes
achieve. Where do we open communication and inclusion is essential
see our company in the for happy and productive workers. In fact,
future as it relates it’s so important that this safety trend is
to a more inclusive also linked to the trend we mentioned earlier
workplace? Evaluate regarding psychosocial and psychological well-
where we are now, being within the workplace.
understand, be honest,
be open about the gaps
between the two. We This year, we will continue to see more
can apply continuous businesses ramp up their own inclusion efforts
improvement as a way to for members of a wider, more diverse range
of communities and stakeholders. The steps
get closer and closer that a business community makes in terms
to where it is we of inclusion is dependent on the influence of
aspire to be.” both workers and management. We must work
together to make this change be meaningful.
– Deondra Wardelle

As we move to this new future of better

workplace well-being, and inclusion will follow.
However, it won’t happen without effort. That comes with constant re-evaluation of the
way people work and how a business is run.

16 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

3. Paying Equal Attention to both Health and Safety in OH&S

With all these psychosocial safety trends predicted to occur and make the shift this
coming year, there’s now an equal playing field developing between both health and
safety in OH&S. We view this as particularly important because Occupational Safety and
Health is the center of all things workplace safety related.

OH&S includes, most importantly, our professionals. They help make the change needed
to create a perfect workplace safety program for every unique environment. But what
many people gloss over is the fact that safety, while it protects our heath, is not the same
as focusing on employee health. We’re talking about preventing excessive emotional
and mental stress within the workplace that has potential to harm employees physically.
Whether that be because they neglected safety procedure or simply forgot because of the
nature of the working environment.

Do you see the connection? You cannot have Safety in OH&S without Health, likewise the
other way around. Each complement each other for a reason, that being a more wholistic
view of worker well-being during their time on the job.
 Tools to Improve Psychological Safety in the Workplace
Let’s look at a couple of conversational tools you can use to improve your employee’s sense of
safety and well-being. Not only do both the T.H.A.N.K.S and C.O.A.C.H conversations provide a
baseline for respecting people, one of Toyota’s primary business principles, but it also creates
an environment where employees can trust their higher-ups rather than fear or avoid them.

Safety is a two-way street and positive conversations are an excellent way to begin. With that
being said, the employer must make themselves approachable so employees can give them
feedback, and vice versa, on processes that may harbor unnecessary risk for the workers.

Practice the T.H.A.N.K.S. Conversation

Unfortunately, critique on the job is often automatically assumed to be negative or it is assumed

that the worker is in trouble for doing something wrong. Imagine having your supervisor come
up to you and immediately say you are being unsafe or doing a certain task improperly. You
would probably feel accused, anxious, or defensive! Not only does that impede the employee’s
receptiveness to the feedback that would ultimately help keep them safe, but they likely will just
dismiss the feedback altogether.

Fostering a positive workplace culture is all about the ability to communicate in the right way.
For that, try out the T.H.A.N.K.S conversation, something we learned after talking with Dr.
Ludwig. The technique goes as follows:

T Ask them about the Task they are doing.

H Ask them about the Hazards associated with the task.

A
Ask what Actions they are doing to keep themselves safe.

N
Tell them you Noticed their safe actions but also some risk.

K Talk about how those risks Concern you.

S Solve the problem.

18 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

 This method disarms the employee’s fight or flight response and enables both parties to have
a productive and positive conversation with each other. On top of having a positive encounter
in terms of feedback, the employer can also use this time to gather information on why that
employee chose to do that particularly unsafe action. Maybe it was a lack of knowledge, maybe
the employee didn’t have the right tools, or maybe they were being rushed. Once the problem
has been identified, both parties can work together to solve the problem and prevent it from
happening in the future.

Overall, this is an excellent method to use to reach your employees on their level without
sounding condescending or upset with them. Try it out yourself!

Learn about Dr. Ludwig’s discovery and development of the T.H.A.N.K.S conversation here.

Utilize the C.O.A.C.H. Method

he C.O.A.C.H method is another type of communication strategy we learned after speaking with
Dr. E. Scott Geller. This method aims to provide corrective feedback in the workplace quickly and
efficiently. It also does this in a way that maintains a positive relationship between both workers
and their supervisors. The acronym stands for:

C I Care about my worker’s safety.

O
I have made a checklist to use while I Observe my employee’s behavior.

A

While observing I will Analyze what I think is influencing both safe
and unsafe behavior.

C
I must Communicate with my employees about what I noticed.

H I will Help them create a safer environment for themselves.

19 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

 Making your intentions clear when looking to give
corrective feedback is incredibly important to both
the employee and the supervisor. By coming to “Safety as with any
an understanding, both parties can communicate continuous improvement
effectively regarding what they both require for a method is a never-
safer workplace. ending battle. New
technologies, new
C.O.A.C.H is an excellent communication strategy. With equipment, new people,
its slightly different approach than the T.H.A.N.K.S. new processes, there’s
method, C.O.A.C.H. focuses more on the supervisor’s always the risk of
duty when it comes to corrective feedback. introducing new safety
hazards.”
– Mark Graban

20 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

Physical Safety Trends
In 2019 there were a total of 2.8 million non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses that were
reported to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This number decreased by 5.7% in 2020 with
a total of 2.7 million non-fatal cases. While the rate of injuries decreased in 2020 from the
previous year’s total, the rate of respiratory illness jumped from 127,200 cases in 2019 to
544,600 cases in 2020.

Workplace injuries, illnesses, and deaths are

preventable. Let’s take a look into what we will see in
the next year regarding changes in terms of physically “Of course, we’ve seen
protecting employees from workplace hazards. with various state and
municipalities, and
some company vaccine
mandates that are in
existence already, how
controversial this
can be and how many
issues that can come
whether that be privacy
issues, concerns that
employees may have with
vaccines. I think the
OSHA vaccine mandate
will keep safety
professionals with
their hands full.”
– Dave Johnson
 1. The Implementation of OSHA’s Health 1. 1. 1. Mandates
On November 5th, 2021, OHSA published their COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing
Emergency Temporary Standard. While it hasn’t gotten the okay to proceed to a level of
enforcement yet, this attempt at creating a more broadly associated health mandate sets a
precedent for next year as well as the years to come as we recover from this pandemic.

For clarification, an emergency temporary standard can only be created under very
limited conditions. OSHA must prove that workers are in grave danger due to exposure
to toxic substances or agents, or a new hazard that has been deemed to cause serious
physical harm. In only 2 years COVID-19 has caused 800,000 deaths in the U.S. and has
jumped to one of the leading causes of death in the United States.

It must be noted that once the temporary standard has been published to the federal
registrar, it will serve as a permanent standard while it goes through the standard
adoption process afterwards. These special standards may be challenged in the U.S.
Court of Appeals for validity as well. On top of that, they have only 6 months to come to a
final ruling for the permanent standard.

2. Changing Workplace Safety Procedures Due to Increased Risk of Heat Stress

The CDC claims that there are around 618 people in the United States who die from ex-
treme heat every year. However, the number may be higher as heat-related deaths often
go unrecognized since heat stress and heat stroke can exacerbate other health issues
such as many cardiovascular diseases.

From 2011 to 2019, The Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 344 heat related deaths.
41.9% (144 workers) died while working in construction, repair, or cleaning industries and
15.7% (54 workers) died while working in material handling operations. In 2019 alone,
there were a recorded 43 occupational related fatalities caused by excessive heat. While
2019 reported less heat fatalities than 2018, we are still seeing an upward trend in heat
related deaths across the nation.

22 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

 As extreme weather events continue to occur, we are going to be seeing more protective
measures being taken to keep workers safe. The most recent change, and one we will
be seeing take effect this summer is that of a heat related enforcement initiative imple-
mented by OSHA. OSHA has begun to make progress in developing a National Emphasis
Program for heat inspections as well as developing a workplace heat standard for both
indoor and outdoor workers.

3. New Risks from Changing Work Environments

We’ve been talking about change and transitions for
the coming year, but it must also be realized that
“We’re definitely going
those all come with potentially new hazards that
we must address. to see a lot more
issues with folks
Those hazards might even come from working working from home.
at home. Electrical fires are a serious issue that What that means, I can
employees need to be aware of if they are using tell you what you know
space heaters in their home offices. It may be just in that aspect of
regulated at the office, but in other environments, working from home, we
they may have no idea of the dangers they are
imposing on themselves.
start to see an uptick
in things like space
We also still must be vigilant in our
heater fires.”
efforts to curb the spread of the virus – Brett Brenner
while at work. The U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics has gathered data proving that
employer-reported respiratory illnesses
have increased by 4,000% in 2020 alone.
To get a better grasp on the severity of
this percentage, there were only 10,800
reported cases of respiratory illness
in 2019 while the number shot up to
428,700 in 2020.

With these two examples in mind

when it comes to changing work
environments, make sure you are
making efforts to find those issues and
implement mitigation tactics before any
serious injuries or illnesses surface.

23 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

 Tools to Improve Physical Safety in the Workplace

While there is more regulatory content in terms of protecting workers from physical safety
issues, we also have to use the tools available to us to make our workplace environments
even better than before. These “methods” include concepts such as 5S, Six Sigma, Lean
manufacturing, and more.

Following these proven techniques often come with best practices. For example, if you choose
to utilize 5S you’ll find the use of safety labels and signs essential to organize your workplace
while also keeping your employees out of harm’s way. On the other hand, if you’re using any type
of improvement method, you’ll find that frequent job hazard analyses are necessary to identify
safety issues.

24 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

Let’s take a look at the following physical safety tools you can use to improve your
environment’s safety efforts.

Use Visual Communication Tools

Taking advantage of visual communication is your best bet aside from extensive training for
your facility. This means installing safety signs, informational labels, and even floor tape to
denote safe walkways or the placement of specialized equipment or workstations.

First, you’ll need to become familiar and follow both regulatory and voluntary standards such as
those from OSHA, ANSI, and the NFPA. These will help you to make sure the correct design is
used, and the essential labeling rules are followed. Plus, utilizing these best practice methods
and regulatory standards will help you avoid fines.

Check out the following well-known regulations:

- 1910.1200 Hazard Communication

- ANSI/ASME A13.1 Pipe Labeling Standards
- NFPA 704
- The National Electrical Code
- OSHA’s Floor Marking Guidelines

Make sure you have the essentials such as Danger, Caution, Warning, and Notice signs or labels for
alerting your employees of established safety protocol and hazardous substances. Adding extra
information is always welcome. That can be anything from directional signs to facility labels.
 Creative Safety Supply is here to help you with your visual communication efforts. Known as
the industry leader in visual safety, we have many options for long-lasting regulatory compliant
labels, signs, and industrial floor marking tape.

We also carry cost-saving industrial label printers that give you the ability to print labels on-
demand whenever you need them. That means no waiting around for labels to be delivered and
no miscommunication when it comes to design.

Visual communication matters in the workplace. Without reminders to wear PPE, follow
company safety protocol, or watching out for moving forklifts, workers would be at a severe
disadvantage when it comes to taking their own safety seriously.

26 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

 Regularly Perform a Job Hazard Analysis

The essential first step in a risk management program is performing a Job Hazard Analysis,
or JHA. It’s used to review tasks to then be able to identify and subsequently address safety
hazards within the workplace.

These tasks are usually performed more at jobs with the following characteristics:

 Jobs with high injury and illness rates.

 Jobs that pose risks for severe injuries or illnesses.
 Jobs where one error can cause catastrophic accidents.
 Jobs that have a new process or one that has changed, therefore having the
chance to develop a new risk.
 Complex jobs that require written instruction.

JHAs are an essential tool for everyone’s workplace to not only keep people safe and healthy,
but to make sure standard workplace processes are followed and re-evaluated regularly for new
hazards that may have developed.

The four basic steps that a JHA requires include:

You can achieve this by utilizing a Gemba walk. It can also be useful to break
Observe
down a task into smaller manageable pieces, that way you can really investigate
the task
any problems.

Identify Look for physical hazards, chemical hazards, the potential for illness, etc. Make
potential and sure to ask yourself, “what are the causes of these problems?” and identify the
existing hazards consequences.

Calculate
The hazards that pose an immediate risk should be a priority in terms of mitigation
the severity of
or elimination. This can be calculated by using a Risk Priority Number, or RPN.
the hazards

Implement Consult the Hierarchy of Hazards for this task. This excellent risk management
the necessary tool can help you come up with ideas to eliminate, substitute, implement
hazard controls engineering and admin controls, and mitigate hazards with the necessary PPE.

27 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

How Did Our Experts Define Employee Well-being?
One of the last questions we asked our safety professionals was how they define employee
well-being at work and what a perfect workplace culture means to them. This thought-provoking
question resulted in nine different answers from our nine safety experts.

Feeling included in the workplace contributes to employee well-being and a positive

workplace culture.

Respecting individuals, no matter what position they hold, is a high priority for workers
and fostering a respectful workplace culture is key.

Showing gratitude through positive feedback contributes to a collaborative workplace

culture and overall inclusiveness.

Having transparent management and giving employees the chance to speak up for
themselves and their safety is important.

100% worker engagement, 100% supervisory buy-in, and zero injuries.

Coaching and talking with one another about safety helps build a successful and safety
driven workplace where employees feel valued.

Well-being is a combination of regulatory compliance, a positive workplace culture, and

a heightened sense of personal responsibility.

Well-being is going to work and feeling safe, and ultimately going home safe as well.

Being honest and open about what needs to be done to better the company culture and
using continuous improvement strategies to seek out those advancements.

Take these words into consideration when you look

“Everyone has the
to improving your workplace in the coming year. Every
facility is different, with both unique types of people
ability to be a safety
and the unique nature of work being performed.
leader. Everybody
has experiences and
stories to share, we
Overall, positivity and a willingness to improve
can all be agents of
both the safety and health of your employees is an
excellent place to start.
change.”
– Paul Colangelo
 Final Tips
To synopsize the safety trends for 2022, the nation is making strides in improvement for not
only workplace safety but also becoming more invested in the health of their employees. It’s a
step in the right direction, but there is a lot more work to be done, and that the work will probably
may never end. But that’s the nature of continuous improvement. We are only ever going to set
the bar higher and higher for what is necessary for the health and safety of our workforce.

Here are a few final tips to keep in mind as we launch ourselves into the new year:

 Be Positive That means take and give positive feedback, always be looking for
improvements, and respect those who come to work every day.

 Stay up to Date Keep in touch with news revolving around new safety standards,
regulations, and best practice methods. You might find a method that works well
within your workplace to keep people safe.

 Listen to Employees with Empathy Make sure you are listening to what your
employees expect from you in terms of safety, compensation, and other necessary
workplace functions.

 Be Supportive This can come in the form of providing more extensive training,
providing better benefits, and other positive psychosocial conditions.

29 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

 Our Interviewees

Brett Brenner
Brett Brenner is the president of the non-profit organization Electrical Safety
Foundation International, also known as ESFI. The organization provides electrical
safety information to the public to increase safety awareness while also working to
fight electrical-related deaths, injuries, and damage done to property. Brenner is also a
council member for the NFPA and for UL.

Paul Colangelo
Paul Colangelo has 30 years of experience in the Environmental Health and Safety
field as a Safety Director, a Construction Manager and Consultant, his involvement in
Telecommunications, and in the Utility and Renewable Energy sectors as well. He also
has 20 years of experience as an OSHA Outreach 10/30-hour Construction Program
Trainer, and holds the STSC, CHST, CIT, and CRIS certifications. On top of that, he is
also involved in the American Society of Safety Professionals and is an appointed ambassador for the
Board of Certified Safety Professionals.

Colangelo is the owner and president of PJC Safety Services which offers consulting services to those
needing assistance with the design, development, and implementation of safety and health programs.
The company also offers OSHA compliance assistance as well as safety and health training courses.

Dr. E. Scott Geller

Dr. Geller works as a teacher and researcher at Virginia Tech in the department
of Psychology and has been doing so for 50 years. As a distinguished author
and business partner, Dr. Geller has authored, coauthored, and edited a total of
51 books, 88 book chapters, 39 training manuals, 272 magazine articles, and
over 300 research articles about behavioral based content that aims to improve
overall well-being.

He created the concept Actively Caring for People that helps facilities improve workplace safety
while also aiming to increase productivity and workplace satisfaction for employees. If you are
interested in receiving consulting services from him and his business partner Dr. Krista Geller,
check out their website https://www.gellerac4p.org/.

30 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

 Mark Graban
Mark Graban is internationally recognized for his work as a consultant, professional
speaker, and author. You can check out his website https://www.leanblog.org/ where
you’ll find his blog posts and podcasts all about Lean manufacturing.

Graban has extensive experience working in the healthcare, automotive, industrial

products, and the PC industry where he advocates for consumer and patient safety as
well as for improving working conditions and employee experience. He accomplishes these by working
with both executives and front-line workers on Lean management, continuous improvement, a people-
centered leadership approach, and various other statistical methods.

Dave Johnson
Dave Johnson was chief editor at Industrial Safety and Hygiene News for 40 years,
from 1980 to 2020. He is also a writer, reporter, researcher, analyst, and public
speaker on topics such as Environmental Health and Safety, organizational culture,
sustainability, and leadership.

He has extensive experience with conducting interviews and managing content

production. Because of that, Johnson is highly respected in the world of industrial safety and still
contributes to ISHN today with his creative and informative works.

Rich Kneece
Rich Kneece is an accomplished CTO at Eskalera, an organization whose goal is to
provide their customers with software resources that work to improve employee
retention, productivity, and innovation through inclusion, equity, diversity, and
employee empowerment.

Before Kneece took on the position at Eskalera, he founded MTC Labs, co-founded
one of the leading job boards for healthcare, was a director for a market-leading consulting firm, and
held account and talent leadership positions at Aetna, IBM, and ESPN. He knows what it means to have
lasting and high-performing teams. He is a recognized thought leader about employee engagement and
experience, innovation, idea generation, and HR tech.

31 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com

 Dr. Timothy Ludwig
Professor, consultant, and researcher, Dr. Ludwig has created content that employers
and employees alike can use to transform their workplace into a more productive and
safer environment. Dr. Ludwig has over 30 years of experience in behavioral safety in
the workplace. He currently works at Appalachian State University as a Distinguished
Graduate Professor for the nationally recognized Industrial/Organizational Psychology
and Human Resources Management Masters program.

If you’re interested in learning more about behavioral based safety, make plans to participate in the
Appalachian Safety Summit next year. This summit was founded by Dr. Ludwig and continues to occur
every year under his direction.

Marc McClure
Marc McClure is a safety professional that has extensive experience in leadership
positions regarding occupational safety in the workplace. Some of the positions he’s
held include Project Safety Manager, Regional Safety Manager, and Corporate Safety
Director.

McClure works to help people set a vision for their safety culture and helps them
along with foundational items that assist them in retaining new workplace values
when it comes to safety. He has also worked with a team to develop a new safety app called Wicked OSHA
that helps companies with over 100 employees to improve workplace safety in terms of OSHA compliance

Deondra Wardelle
Deondra Wardelle is a continuous improvement specialist and the creator of the
#RootCauseRacism movement. She works as a corporate trainer, licensed health
coach, and is a motivational speaker.

You can schedule a continuous improvement consultation with Ms. Wardelle as an

individual or for an entire organization. She can help you with developing leadership
skills, career development, organizational planning, and much more. You’ll find
continuous improvement success by learning and using vision boards to break up goals into more
attainable objectives. Check out her website https://www.deondrawardelle.com/..

32 SAFETY AND LEAN TRENDS www.creativesafetysupply.com