SAFETY MOMENT, JULY 5

Know the warning signs

See today's safety moment How to give a safety moment

Safety moment, July 5

Everyone brings their life to work: money worries, family problems, long hours, time away from home, grief or a layoff. Stress, burnout, anxiety, depression and substance use are health problems, not weakness, and people do get better with help. They also pull your focus off the task, and on a jobsite a lost focus can get someone hurt. Looking out for each other's minds is part of looking out for each other's safety.

SAFETY MOMENT

July 5

The hazard

Everyone brings their life to work: money worries, family problems, long hours, time away from home, grief or a layoff. Stress, burnout, anxiety, depression and substance use are health problems, not weakness, and people do get better with help. They also pull your focus off the task, and on a jobsite a lost focus can get someone hurt. Looking out for each other's minds is part of looking out for each other's safety.

The action

Watch for changes in a coworker: pulling away from the crew, being unusually quiet or angry, more mistakes or near misses, coming in late or missing days, or drinking or using more. Talk about feeling hopeless, trapped or like a burden is a serious warning sign. You do not need to diagnose anything. You just need to notice and care enough to ask.

ASK THE CREW

What changes in a coworker would make you stop and ask if they are okay?

From the talk: Mental health at work. Read it in full, free, with the questions and the sign-in sheet.

1926.21

HOW TO USE IT

How to give a safety moment

Gather the crew where they work, before the shift or the meeting starts. Read the hazard out loud.
Ask the question and let two or three people answer. What they say about their own work counts for more than what you read.
Name the action and point to one place on today's job where it applies, so everyone knows what to do differently.
Write the date and the names on a sign-in sheet.

A safety moment is short and does not replace the full talk. When you want to go through a topic with the crew, pick a free toolbox talk.

PRINT AND EDIT

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One moment for every day of the year in the same format as this one: the hazard, the action, the question and the source talk with its citation. Print a page a day or show a slide.

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