I know of two-strike rules in a number of settings. Drug use in the workplace is one. Another is the misuse of company computers (spam, pormo, etc.). The rules go a long way to curb behavior.

But the big thing is not hiring them in the first place. Improved screening might help. Testing might also work. I don’t know.

Just get these people off your worksite.

Then there’s the shielding workers from starting tasks that are not ready to be finished. This is the big opportunity. The Danish studies indicates there’s at least a 50% improvement opportunity.

Fascinating.

Is anyone else doing this?

Educate the designers and Customers about designing construction, yes construction safety into the final product. Designers typically have no idea of dangers of excavating a trench, nor working in a confined space, nor fall hazards. They ignorantly follow cookie cutter standards because they don’t take risks. They only focus on safety factors in the final product performance.

Maybe we should put the designers in the trench during pipe laying, down in the confined space, or up on the transmission tower checking connections during construction. I bet they begin becoming innovative and creative in their designs. And for those designers that would object stating that it would be cost prohibitive. . . .

Well you know the come back for that question. We are now compelled to design environmentally responsibly. Why can’t we, who have a robotic soil sampler on Mars, design for construction safety?

I’ve seen some successes, individual by individual, in changing behaviors by changing values. It is the core values that a person holds that drives the behaviors that eventually put them at risk. On a larger project, you can’t expect the workers you really need to let go to readily identify themselves. You need to work this issue in the forefront of cause.

Sometimes, you can learn a lot by poking around someone’s values.