Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Tip 2: Tools for the Safety Buddy: A Safety Checklist
A safety buddy is an experienced employee, so she can do her induc-
tion and coaching by heart. It is, however, advisable to develop a
checklist while working and to use this checklist during the induction
period, just to ensure that all important elements are discussed. This
checklist contains all elements that should be known in order to do a
good and safe job:
Description of the main processes at work
Description of the critical moments in those processes, the points
where the difference between normal and good performance can be
made
Description of the rules and regulations as well as the reason for
each of these rules (discuss the rule in a broader audience if there is
no obvious reason why to do it in the prescribed way)
Inventory of the risky elements for safety, health, and/or environment
Suggestions for how to anticipate possible risks and build in safety
margins
Suggestions for how to recognize, through minor details (for exam-
ple, sound of the pump, heat radiation of a pipe, quality of the
smoke), the status of the actual processes
In order to avoid paper monsters and more bureaucracy, it is
advised that this checklist be developed in an organic way, every day a
little bit, not only by the safety buddy but also by the newcomers. If
the company has SHE-officers, it is wise to ask them to participate in
filling in the checklist.
The checklist should be accessible all the time (maybe even through
a secured Internet connection) so that it can be studied anytime.
Tip 3: Tools for the Safety Buddy: Coaching Training
There is a difference between teaching and coaching. Teaching is focused
on adding information via an expert source, whereas coaching is focused
on asking the right questions so that the coachee starts to think and dis-
cover. Both roles are needed in order to be a good safety buddy.
Usually, teaching is much easier than coaching. A good coach withholds
information for some time, although he knows it. In order to train this
competence of coaching, some coaching training can strengthen the role
of the safety buddy.
