SAFETY FOR FRESH GRADUATES

Sun, 20 Aug 2017 08:08:15 +0000

By Mark Kunda

BEFORE you fix your boss, fix yourself. It is easier to change yourself than to change someone else. When some graduates join the industry, they only see things and people that need to be changed. When they notice that things are not changing as they want, they get frustrated. A frustrated work is unproductive and unsafe.

Before I proceed, here is your final opportunity to register for the first-ever safety conference. So far, response has been overwhelming. Extremely limited spaces are available. So decide to register today. Contact me for details. Zambia Occupational Health and Safety Association (ZOHSA) has organized the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Conference scheduled to take place on 25th August, 2017 which is this coming Friday. The conference was initially planned to take place on 28th July, 2017 but was rescheduled to give adequate time for conference delegates to plan and prepare themselves. This one day Safety Conference, which will be officiated by the Labour Minister. The theme of the conference is ‘Implementing OSH Management Systems’. The conference will be held at Sandy’s Creation in Lusaka on 25th August, 2017. Participation fee is only K2000 per delegate inclusive of meals, certificate, training materials and Networking Braii. Some of the topics to be covered include Regulating OSH in Zambia, Principles of OSH Management, OSH Technical Standards, Medical Examinations for workers, OSH Inspections in workplaces and Roles of OSH Practitioners in a workplace among other topics. Conference facilitators include representatives from International Labour Organization (ILO), Occupational Safety and Health Services Department (OSHSD) under Ministry of Labour, Occupational Safety and Health Institute (OSHI) under Ministry of Health, Millennium Challenge Account Zambia, University of Africa and SMTS – an international OSH Training Company. The conference is open to any individual or organization. For bookings or clarifications, contact me using contact details indicated at the bottom of this article. You can’t afford to miss this opportunity especially if you are a safety practitioner.

Let’s get back to our topic for today. Since this article is a continuation from last week, let me start by refreshing your memory. Last week, I mentioned that there is need for fresh graduates to learn to manage their ego. Desiring to rise in a company too fast, too soon is not only dangerous to the fresh graduates but to the company as well. Some graduates are so obsessed with climbing the corporate ladder that starting from that bottom of the company seems like punishment to them. I shared my own personal experience and used it to illustrate how some fresh graduates focus on early promotion at the expense of knowing and mastering the job. There is nothing wrong in fresh graduates desiring top jobs. But they need to realize that top jobs require experience and maturity. Top jobs come with a lot of demands and responsibilities. In order to succeed in managing such jobs, you need mental and emotional maturity. The globally respected leadership expert, John C Maxwell said that ‘thinking that you can do the job is confidence but actually doing the job is competence.’ Most fresh graduates fail to differentiate between the two. They have confidence in excess. Just because they theoretically know the job, they assume that they can practically do it. This kind of attitude has negative impact on the company especially its safety performance. Such unhealthy attitude results in perpetual office politics, interpersonal conflicts and personal frustration.

Most students graduate from universities and colleges without being aware of the importance of Occupational Safety and Health. You can’t blame them. When you look at our education system in Zambia, safety is rarely taught to students. A fresh graduate would have gone through the entire education process without understanding the importance of practicing safety in the workplace. Safety is not incorporated in most courses. Even in practical subjects like chemistry and automotive mechanics, safety is rarely emphasized. You would find that students are performing experiments in the laboratory without wearing goggles or repairing a broken down vehicle in the workshop without wearing work suits. As a result they indirectly learn that working without personal protection is acceptable.  Furthermore the laboratories and workshops found in colleges and universities lack basic safety features like fire extinguishers and safety signage. Even where such safety features exist, lecturers hardly explain their importance to the students. Poor safety standards are not only limited to the laboratories, workshops and classrooms but also the hostels and boarding houses were students are accommodate are often unsafe. The bottom line is that fresh graduates lack safety knowledge because safety is not included in their syllabus and the environment in which they learn often lacks safety. Safety is not instilled in the hearts and minds of students throughout their school life.

The lack of exposure to the need for safety affects the attitude that fresh graduates develop towards safety when they join industry. They develop negative attitudes towards safety. Firstly some fresh graduates have the attitude that safety is not important to them. So they don’t care about their own safety. Lack of safety awareness to students makes them graduate subconsciously thinking that safety is not important. In fact, some fresh graduates think that safety is for the uneducated workers, not for the educated. Education has a way of making educated people think that only what you learnt is what is important. Anything else is treated as irrelevant. Unfortunately even safety falls in the category considered to be irrelevant. Fresh graduates with such mentality will refuse to comply safety rules in the company. They think that wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE) is for workers who are less educated or workers at the bottom of the organization such as casual workers. As a result, they will refuse to wear a work suit because they think that the work suit is putting them at the same level with casual workers. I remember at secondary school, senior pupils in grade 12 used to refuse to wear uniforms insisting that uniforms were for juniors. They would hide uniforms in school bags and only wear them when it’s time for classes! Similar behavior is found in workplaces where some workers perceive PPE to be for ‘junior workers’ and not for ‘senior workers.’ So to look senior, they avoid wearing PPE.

Secondly, some fresh graduates think that safety is not important to other workers. So they don’t care about the safety of others. Some fresh graduates think that less educated workers deserve to work in dangerous work environment and performing dangerous jobs. And that such workers should not even complain about the unsafe conditions they are subjected to. Some fresh graduates think that the uneducated workers are the ‘slaves’ of industry who should be abused and misused because they are not educated. When such fresh graduates are made supervisors or managers, they would not treat safety of workers as a priority. They look at safety of workers as a cost. They will allow the workers to touch hot pipes without gloves or to mix hazardous chemicals without breathing apparatus. They unconsciously feel that even if an accident or injury was occurs, they wouldn’t be affected. They feel that the people who will be injured are the ones who are directly subjected to hazards.

Thirdly some fresh graduates think safety is not their job. They think that safety is the job of safety officers. With this attitude, such workers will not report safety hazards thinking that the safety officer will find out for himself or herself. They feel that if they report hazards, they will be doing the job of safety officers. They will not correct or discipline the worker who is violating the safety rules even if such a worker directly reports to them.

Some fresh graduates really make enforcing safety in a company very difficult. Such workers make the work of the safety officers very challenging because they refuse to corporate. Sometimes they just refuse to comply with basic safety instructions. Some of they suffer from the disease of superiority complex whereby they feel superior. They feel they are more important than anybody else in the company. As such, they want to be treated in a very special manner. But when it comes to safety everyone is the same. Whether educated or not, every worker needs safety. Every worker is expected to observe safety. Accidents can kill both the educated and the uneducated workers.

As a safety officer, you have a responsibility to ensure that every worker observes safety. Do not be scared of any worker even if the worker is more educated than you or has a higher position than you. Take time to educate all the workers especially fresh graduates on the importance of safety. Highlight the benefits of safety not only to them but to the organization at large. Do not assume that because the fresh graduate has a degree, then he or she knows safety too. Such a fresh graduate may be highly educated in his or her field but may lack knowledge in safety. Therefore you need to conduct safety inductions for them. You need to emphasize to them that everyone needs safety regardless of their education level or position in the company. Help them understand that safety is not for casual workers but for all workers. Furthermore help them understand that safety is everyone’s job. Safety should not be treated as a by-way thing but rather as a key component to every job.

To the fresh graduates, join the industry with an open mind. Be willing to learn. Companies are looking for workers who are not just educated but workers who are able to adapt and fit in the organizational culture. Don’t be like some graduates who think that if their boss delegates to them, they conclude that the boss is lazy and if the boss doesn’t delegate, they conclude that the boss is hiding the job. Be positive. Look at it from the positive side. If your boss delegates the job to you, take it as an opportunity to learn and develop your skills. And if your boss doesn’t delegate the job to you, take the initiative and request for additional responsibilities. For instance safety is one such responsibility which you can request. Your boss will be glad to have a worker who takes initiative and welcomes extra work. You need to go an extra mile. That’s what will make you stand out. Do not just stick to your job description. Think outside the box. In fact live outside the box. Practice safety. Be known for being the most safety conscious worker. Work safely. Stay safe. Zambia needs you.

The author is the CEO of SafetyFocus, a safety company committed to providing safety training, consultancy and supplying of safety products.

For your comments, contact the author on cell +260 975 255770 or email: marksucceed@gmail.com

Mark Kunda—Safety Consultant