New Book Stresses Workplace Safety

By Nancy K. Crevier

Industrial safety is an important issue for Newtown resident Joseph M. Cwikla, a certified safety professional, and owner of JMC Consulting. As the head of the safety management and training services company, he has helped train dozens of companies to better understand workplace safety.

Talking about safety to the thousands of people that he has encountered in his 30-plus-year career, Mr Cwikla saw that there was still a need for the ideas he emphasized in his custom safety training classes to be put into a form that could be referred to over and over again. The result is his new book, published in May, Ten Mistakes That Can Sabotage Your Safety Program — The Book.

“I kept seeing the same unsuccessful [safety] programs over and over in companies. The book actually grew out of an article I wrote in 1999 for Professional Safety Magazine. I had a lot of requests from companies to reprint the article in their company newsletters, and it was even translated into German. I decided last year that I wanted to fill in that article with more detail, and sat down and wrote the book,” said Mr Cwikla.

The book focuses on ten common mistakes that he has repeatedly seen occur in company safety programs. Uninvolved management, missed opportunities to prevent accidents, counterproductive orders, quick-fix rewards that can encourage negative peer pressure, rewards for those not working, waiting too long to implement corrective efforts, poor training, lack of employee involvement in the safety process, and failing to learn from mistakes are the errors that can translate into an ineffective safety program, said Mr Cwikla.

“Not all of the mistakes will fit all of the companies, of course,” said Mr Cwikla, “but being aware of some of these mistakes will show how the mistakes take away from the company.”

The 40-page book is purposely not technical, he said. “It’s more of a safety philosophy book. I want people to buy into the safety program concept. The final goal of a safety program is always to not hurt people,” Mr Cwikla emphasized. “Companies need to ask themselves, ‘Does a safety program get me closer or further from that goal?’” he said.

It is vital that companies not look at injuries in a vacuum, and learn to view injuries in light of the overall performance of a supervisor and manager. Doing otherwise can create a negative environment in which safety does not truly come first. Making sure that everyone in the company, from upper management on down, is on board and supports the program is also crucial to how successful a safety program is within a company, said Mr Cwikla.

Mr Cwikla has worked with all levels of corporate, divisional, plant, and union personnel on safety issues. He has trained and provided safety assessment to companies of all sizes, including General Electric, Pitney Bowes, The National Safety Council, and Boeing. Prior to founding JMC Consulting, Mr Cwikla held positions as an industrial engineer, directed safety, health, and security programs for a ten-location division of more than 2,700 people, and was associate director of the Health, Safety & Environmental Affairs department for a large corporation.

His hope is that owners and managers of companies will read his book and better understand what safety is and how to get everyone successfully involved in the company safety program.

Mr Cwikla’s book is available at JMCConsul@aol.com. For more information on JMC Consulting, see jmcsafetytraining.com.