For years we have been preaching that safety is dependent upon attitude; if people got hurt, they had a poor attitude, they didn't care, didn't think, or they were careless. Maybe part of this is true. If so, why didn't they have the proper attitude? Did we make the proper attitude a priority? How do you make it a priority:

Pretend you are self-insured. Because you really are - who ultimately pays the bills - you do. An insurance company merely spreads or levels your cost over a period of years.

Never say and never let your employees think that any expense incurred at you facility belongs to or will be paid by the insurance company. Their adjuster may talk to all of those involved, pay the hospital bills, write the compensation checks, but ultimately it is you, Mr. Manager, who in the long run pays the adjuster.

So --- what do we do about this money that comes out of your bottom line - money that you spend, that you have control over; money that you spend, that you should not spend.

How do you not spend it? The same way that you control any other cost.

Assign responsibility from the top through lowest level of supervision.

Give appropriate awards and penalties at each level.

Make these accident costs a part of the overall cost system.

Make sure that a dollar spent at the hospital counts with equal value as that spent on maintenance. Be sure to raise as much hell about accident cost as you do about the bearing that burned up because it wasn't greased. They both cause downtime and cost money.

Don't accept those feeble excuses for accidents anymore readily than you do for a production goof.

Investigate accidents to determine the real cause just as you would a mechanical problem.

Are you getting the idea that I think accident costs are just like any other unnecessary cost - - you're right, I do.

And I also believe that the type of corrective action must be equaL

Corrective actions can range from a wrist slap to discharge, however, one very effective method is the effect it has on the pocketbook.

If you have a bonus system, include the cost of accidents; make sure that it has enough of an effect to accomplish its purpose. As an example, one of our gins had a serious accident a few years ago and it completely wiped out the Manager's and the Ginner's bonus. The cost of the accident was charged to the gin so the overall profit was cut considerably and the direct accident portion of the bonus program was wiped out - in essence, they got a double whammy, and accident prevention now gets much more attention.

Another method that works very well is to call the supervisor into the office and review his performance in order to justify a raise. If he has a good record, give him a raise.

If he doesn't - tell him what's wrong. If accident costs are too high, tell him no raise now but that you will review him again in three to six months.

In closing - consider your accident program as just another part running your operation, one that is equally as important as quality, production and maintenance.

You don't have any insurance company to write the checks for repair parts nor should you mentally consider you have one to pay the doctor bills.