Preparing for an Uncertain Future: What Tomorrow’s Safety Professional Should Be Studying Today

TRIGONOMETRY AND CALCULUS
Linear progressions can be used to predict how a company will perform (relative to worker safety) without intervention, and logarithmic progression can be used to predict how a company will perform after an intervention has been deployed. By comparing these two progressions, a safety professional can demonstrate the value of an intervention and the contribution of the safety professional. And while this might sound complicated, remember that Microsoft Excel spreadsheets can perform both progressions.

If software can complete this work, then why should students study higher mathematics? Software is only a tool, not the answer. Without understanding the underpinnings of the progression and the insights gleaned from them, the safety professional is unable to judge whether the graphing is even accurate. Furthermore, one who allows software to do his or her thinking has no business in the safety profession at all. Period.

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
One should never confuse organizational behavior with behavior-based safety (BBS). Organizational behavior deals with the psychology of groups within an organization. It studies how populations think and act, and is paramount for the safety professional to understand. BBS, on the other hand, is an approach to worker safety based on behavioral science research, organizational behavior, and behavioral psychology. It believes that the vast majority of injuries are caused by unsafe acts and that the safety of the workplace can be significantly improved by activities aimed at reinforcing safe behaviors and raising the awareness of unsafe acts.

BUSINESS WRITING/JOURNALISM
The ability to accurately communicate a coherent thought is a core skill that every college graduate should possess . . . yet business is full of functional illiterates. While an engineer with the writing skills of a not-so-bright baboon might be acceptable, a similarly endowed safety professional (put simply) is not.

Journalism courses teach important skills that safety professionals use every day, like conducting an investigation, interviewing, and constructing a concise report respite with in-depth analysis. Most importantly, the journalistic method teaches investigative techniques to answer the questions “Who?”, “What?”, “Where?”, “When?”, “Why?” and “How?” of any situation, then explains how to write a memo or present the findings of an incident in a different manner to be most effective in communicating.

The fact that journalism emphasizes clear communication is very important, because far too many professionals (safety and otherwise) try to imitate lawyers and write in legal jargon in an attempt to sound more professional. Unfortunately, legalese is inappropriate for most correspondence because the primary purpose of this type of communication is to confound the issue.

Think about it: If contracts were written clearly and were free of vagaries one would not need a lawyer to interpret them. This is not jaded thinking. Legalese is designed to deliberately confuse key points. When a person agrees to be contractually obligated to fulfill a commitment, that person typically desires a bit of “wiggle room” on the criteria for successful delivery of their promises. In other words, lawyers are paid to use language that is open to interpretation and that allows people to weasel out of their commitments.

In contrast, the journalistic style of writing seeks to accurately and efficiently communicate the facts, which is the only acceptable way for a safety professional to communicate.

CONCLUSION
Of course, no one can predict the future and my crystal ball is no more accurate than anyone else is. But in a dynamic business environment, the decisions a student makes today can have a profound impact on his or her career tomorrow. Simple planning today can greatly improve the chances of a richer and more fulfilled career tomorrow.