{"id":14980,"date":"2021-06-21T13:46:37","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T17:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/?p=14980"},"modified":"2023-12-20T11:24:29","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T16:24:29","slug":"the-art-of-staying-safe-effective-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/the-art-of-staying-safe-effective-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cArt\u201d of Staying Safe: Effective Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By: Tony Calderelli, Crawford Custom Consulting<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 1500-pound wrecking ball rolls almost a mile down the main street of a county seat in western Pennsylvania. Although there were no serious injuries, there certainly could\u2019ve been, and there was a lot of property damage. An oil field hand receives life-threatening and life altering injuries when working in a location where the company\u2019s written operational standards, that he had been trained in, were not being followed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did this happen?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Warren Bennis said: \u201cThe most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born that there is a genetic factor to leadership. That\u2019s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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That failing to understand how good leaders are made (and failing to develop them) is \u201cdangerous\u201d seems overstated. It is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past few decades the science of keeping workers safe has made tremendous progress. Virtually every company in Oil & Gas has dedicated safety professionals, well written safety standards, proper safety equipment, and deliver in some form, safety training. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why is there still accidents and incidents, injuries and fatalities? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Science of safety has clearly progressed in gas and oil. Whether or not the \u201cArt\u201d of keeping people safe has progressed depends. The following was part of a job description \/ position announcement for an entry level safety officer at an operation in western PA:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c- Ensure compliance with Local, State and Federal safety & health regulations.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c- Ensure that OSHA guidelines are met and all documentation is prepared and
stored for the required time frame.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An \u201centry level\u201d safety professional can certainly take charge of safety documents, but can he or she ensure that OSHA guidelines are met or ensure compliance with anything? This person could potentially write and train employees on company policies, that if followed would ensure regulatory compliance and thus a safe work place, but only leaders can ensure safety (and all other) standards are actually being followed. The \u201cArt\u201d of keeping people safe, is the Art of Leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a Leader?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We do lots of training in Oil & Gas. We do technical training, and safety training, and compliance training and etc. We train our employees in every facet of their jobs. However, if the job is leading other people we often dismiss the need to develop leaders for some reason. Without leaders with the ability to enforce the standards the employees learn in training, we are missing a huge piece of the safety puzzle. The safety puzzle only has three main pieces, and it isn\u2019t really a puzzle, it\u2019s a three-legged stool. Those three legs are \u201cWrite The Standards,\u201d \u201cTrain The Standards\u201d and Enforce The Standards.<\/p>\n\n\n

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As with any three-legged stool, if one leg is removed it all comes crashing down. As mentioned above, the Oil and Gas Industry has made tremendous advances in the science of safety. Policies and Procedures (AKA \u201cStandards\u201d) developed by Safety Professionals are in place virtually everywhere. Nearly every organization has a program of Safety Training, particularly for Short Service Employees. But training supervisors in the art of leadership is not nearly as common. For some reason we think the skill set involved in leading others somehow instinctual. It is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cLeaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.\u201d <\/em><\/p>Coach Vince Lombardi<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know how many times I have heard from an oilfield supervisor that \u201cmy guys won\u2019t do that.\u201d This is particularly true when the \u201cthat\u201d in question is a safety policy or procedure. My first thought is always, \u201cbut as a supervisor, it is your job to ensure that they do that.\u201d  My second thought is always a question: \u201cDid anyone give you any tools or information to help you enforce those standards?\u201d The answer is often, \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best, most thoughtfully developed safety procedures and policies (standards) are useless if they are not followed. Unless following these standards is enforced by a leader, there is a good chance they may not be. Unless the hard effort is made by the industry to develop leaders, the leaders (particularly new leaders) may not have the skills and confidence to effectively enforce standards (safety standards or any standards).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developing leaders in light of \u201cThe Great Crew Change\u201d (the talent drain about to impact the Oil & Gas industry due to the retirement of large numbers of senior personnel) is especially crucial. In industry and work force development publications there are many examples of statements such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cShortage of new leaders is a hangover from last market downturn\u201d \u2013 Bloomberg News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cGiven the thin leadership bench, many companies are turning to intensive training programs to replace what years of on-the-job experience previously provided.\u201d \u2013 Lucas Group White Paper<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Lucas Paper said it as well as it can be said. Unfortunately, many companies are NOT yet making the hard effort to develop leaders who can enforce the standards, policies and procedures that keep the workforce safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My colleagues at Crawford Custom Consulting are mainly \u201ccrane guys\u201d. They do crane training, crane inspection, rigging testing and inspection; all that sort of thing. And they do it by the book (in the case of the Crane Certification Association of America, they helped write the book). When they train, they are thorough (I have been through their classes). They cover two of the three legs of our \u201csafety stool\u201d; having written standards and enforcing them. Another service they provide is incident\/accident investigation. What they often find is that a standard wasn\u2019t followed. A crane doesn\u2019t just magically tip over. It was being operated outside the standards set in the load chart. A leader didn\u2019t enforce standards. A wrecking ball doesn\u2019t roll down main street all by its self. A leader didn\u2019t enforce standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until we give supervisors \/ leaders in the Oil and Gas Industry the skills to lead well and enforce safety standards effectively, we are not being as safe as we can be. Not by a long shot.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"tony_FC_mug\"
TONY CALDERELLI<\/strong>
Instructor\/Leadership Specialist<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Tony earned a BS in Geology from Juniata College and an MS in Educational Leadership from Miami University.  During his more than two-decade career in higher education Tony was also a reserve component Infantry Officer and his military schooling includes the Air Assault School, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Commandant\u2019s List Graduate of The Infantry Officer Basic Course, and The Distinguished Honor Graduate of The Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare Officer\u2019s Defense Course.  The positions that he held include Platoon Leader, Company Executive Officer, Rifle Company Commander and he served as the Logistics Officer (S4) for the 463D Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy) that included a yearlong combat deployment to the Sunni Triangle in Iraq. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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LEARN MORE ON HOW OUR LEADERSHIP & ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CLASSES CAN WORK FOR YOU or YOU CAN BOOK YOUR CLASS TODAY!<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A crane doesn\u2019t just magically tip over. It was being operated outside the standards set in the load chart. A leader didn\u2019t enforce standards. A wrecking ball doesn\u2019t roll down main street all by its self. A leader didn\u2019t enforce standards. Whether or not the \u201cArt\u201d of keeping people safe has progressed depends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":14997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","slim_seo":{"title":"The \u201cArt\u201d of Staying Safe: Effective Leadership","description":"Crawford Custom does technical training, and safety training, and compliance training, we train our employees in every facet of their jobs.","facebook_image":"https:\/\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/jehyun-sung-6U5AEmQIajg-unsplash.jpg"},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,51,50,78],"tags":[77,76],"class_list":["post-14980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-event-news","category-industry-news","category-leadership","tag-qualifed","tag-safety"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/jehyun-sung-6U5AEmQIajg-unsplash.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcm8MQ-3TC","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":738,"url":"https:\/\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/latest-on-oshas-proposed-extension\/","url_meta":{"origin":14980,"position":0},"title":"Latest On OSHA’s Proposed Extension","author":"Samantha Turberville","date":"08\/31\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest from the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. -\u00a0 The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a\u00a0Notice of Proposed Rulemaking\u00a0to extend the employer's responsibility to ensure crane operator competency and enforcement for crane operator certification to November 10, 2018. OSHA issued a final rule in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Industry News"","block_context":{"text":"Industry News","link":"https:\/\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/category\/industry-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"OSHA_OIG.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crawfordcustom.com\/con5\/application\/files\/3715\/0938\/3135\/OSHA_OIG.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":740,"url":"https:\/\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/osha-issues-final-rule\/","url_meta":{"origin":14980,"position":1},"title":"OSHA Issues Final Rule","author":"Samantha Turberville","date":"11\/08\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"WASHINGTON, DC \u2013 The U.S. Department of Labor\u2019s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a final rule today that clarifies certification requirements for crane operators, and maintains the employer\u2019s duty to ensure that crane operators can safely operate the equipment.","rel":"","context":"In "Industry News"","block_context":{"text":"Industry News","link":"https:\/\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/category\/industry-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14845,"url":"https:\/\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/lift-safety-which-one-are-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":14980,"position":2},"title":"Some People Excel At Lift Safety And Some Don’t – Which One Are You?","author":"Tony Caldarelli","date":"04\/27\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"We see it all the time. The blank stare from supervisors and hands when they are told of a particular training\/qualification requirement for someone involve in a lifting operation.\u00a0\u00a0I get it, many decades ago my introduction to the Lift Industry was when the boss handed me keys to a fork-lift\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/john-ruddock-0YVJKLtTAMc-unsplash-scaled-e1638464131663.jpg?fit=500%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15344,"url":"https:\/\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/responsibilities-of-on-site-personnel-for-cranes-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":14980,"position":3},"title":"Responsibilities of On-Site Personnel for Cranes","author":"Samantha Turberville","date":"12\/20\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"First in a series of related articles reviewing each of the roles that have been identified when working with cranes, explaining the Responsibilities, defining the training requirements, as well as outlining the documentation requirements. Often the discussion around responsibilities of on-site personnel for cranes does not occur until an incident\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/sweet-pics-5-e1608228466328.jpg?fit=450%2C489&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":318,"url":"https:\/\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/what-does-oshas-operator-certification-mean-for-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":14980,"position":4},"title":"What does OSHA’s Operator Certification mean for me?","author":"mike.hough","date":"06\/12\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"With OSHA's crane operator certification deadline quickly approaching, here are some important things you need to know. According to OSHA 29 CFR 1926.1427, state or local government licensing is effective as of November 8, 2010. Other certification and qualification was slated to become effective November 10, 2014. After several concerns\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Industry News"","block_context":{"text":"Industry News","link":"https:\/\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/category\/industry-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15501,"url":"https:\/\/crawfordcustom.com\/wp\/responsibilities-of-supervisors-users-and-owners\/","url_meta":{"origin":14980,"position":5},"title":"Responsibilities of Supervisors, Users and Owners","author":"Samantha Turberville","date":"10\/29\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Second in a series of related articles reviewing each of the roles that have been identified when working with cranes, explaining the Responsibilities, defining the training requirements, as well as outlining the documentation requirements. 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