Beyond the Buzzword: What Being Proactive in Safety Really Means

Webinar Recording

Beyond the Buzzword:
What Being Proactive in Safety Really Means

Responding to incidents is a critical capability for any organization. Caring for those impacted, restoring or modifying equipment that is involved, and returning to normal operation is important. Learning from any incident offers the opportunity to make the changes necessary that will prevent the incident from occurring again. But in addition to being capable in our response, it is even more important that we are proactive in preventing incidents from occurring in the first place.

This webinar focuses on what being proactive really means and how seeing the reality of our environment and work that our people do is key to taking the actions necessary in advance of an incident occurring.  We will examine how being visually literate helps us to see hazards in the workplace that have become so familiar we no longer see them - until the incident occurs. We will discuss the linkage between visual literacy and common safety processes including hazard recognition, prevention through design, serious injury and fatality prevention, and others.

Participants will leave the session with the following outcomes:

  • Why being consumed with responding to incidents comprises our focus on prevention.
  • How being visually literate enables a high level of critical thinking leading to a proactive safety culture.
  • How simple tools can be used to advance our capability to see the reality of the world around us and take meaningful actions.
  • How communicating in an objective manner accelerates action and impact.
We all agree that being proactive is critical to protecting lives. We can achieve this by building competency to see the reality of our environment, understand what it means and take action which being proactive requires. 

Presenters

Doug Pontsler 621x621

Doug Pontsler
Chairman and managing Director

COVE

Doug is Chairman and Managing Director for COVE, the Center of Visual Expertise. Launched in 2018 by the Toledo Museum of Art, COVE is dedicated to the application of visual literacy for industrial and service applications with an emphasis on safety. In this leadership role he is responsible for all aspects of the enterprise including thought leadership, product development and client satisfaction. Prior to his current role, Doug was the former vice president of operations sustainability and EHS for Owens Corning. He joined Owens Corning in 2002 and held leadership positions including director of corporate services and vice president of global sourcing. Doug also served as a member of the National Safety Council Board of Directors and as the Chairman of the Campbell Institute at the National Safety Council. He is a recipient of NSC’s 2019 Distinguished Service to Safety Award.

Ana Mora

Ana Mora, CSP
Senior Health & Safety Manager
 
Haley & Aldrich, Inc.

Ana is a Senior Health & Safety Manager for Haley & Aldrich, Inc. and has extensive experience in assessing risks and developing mitigation controls for complex environmental investigations and remediation projects for the mining, industrial manufacturing, utilities, and aerospace industries. Her background also includes health and safety compliance and conformance audits, employee exposure assessments, accident and incident investigations, and training programs for clients in North and Latin America.