Recently, a good friend called and asked, “How do we get our employees to follow safe work practices after they have gone through the training?” This is a million-dollar question with no one-size-fits-all answer. Plus, this issue is often overlooked! However, employers have several tools to help them gain better buy-in from employees. 

The instance that sparked the call involved an individual who had taken multiple training sessions on NFPA 70E, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace, and had more than 25 years of experience as an electrician. Still this person was caught working in a 480V panelboard while it was energized and without any shock or arc flash PPE. Luckily, the mistake was discovered before anyone was hurt or worse.

So, how do we get through to an individual with so much experience and training who doesn’t follow the rules? The obvious answer is an absolutely zero-tolerance policy toward this type of behavior. In this instance, severe disciplinary action, up to and including termination, would certainly have sent a message. From a future liability perspective, it might have been a smart decision. 

However, would this truly lead to a change in behavior? If the end goal is a meaningful change in the long-held beliefs of industry culture, we need a better way.

Changing long-held beliefs

This example hits a special chord for me, as I was not always so safety-minded in my own career. Like many in the electrical industry, my early mentors had a much different outlook on what working safely around electrical equipment meant. Phrases like, “keep one hand in your pocket,” “touch the wire with the back of your hand first” or my personal favorite, “it’s only 120V,” have been passed down for generations. For those with years of experience prior to electrical safety being a major focus on the job, changing long-held beliefs requires more than forced compliance. 

So, what changed that broke me of these “old-school” electrician habits? It took a truly life-changing event: getting hung up on a 277V lighting circuit. Luckily, I was able to kick the ladder out from under me and take my chances with the fall instead. With 20/20 hindsight, I made a dangerous decision in the interest of saving time, and it nearly took me out. 

What struck me the most was the effect on my family that this incident would have had if it had gone the other way. I skipped critical safety steps to save time, and it almost took my children’s father away from them and left my wife a widow. I then had a different perspective on why the rules exist.

Understand the ‘why’

Understanding the “why” behind the requirements in NFPA 70E shed a new light on safety for me. They were no longer just words on a page. I saw why NFPA 70E requires an electrically safe work condition (ESWC) when electrical hazards are present. 

I understood the importance of viewing the permissions for energized work as exceptions to the rule and not ways to avoid shutting the circuit off. I knew why the process outlined for establishing an ESWC is so detailed, and I realized why PPE was not optional until I saw zero volts on the meter’s display using the live-dead-live test method.

Unfortunately, not everyone has an eye-opening experience. So, how do we reach people before they become another statistic? 

As a trainer, I like to think that I can inspire students to understand the “why” behind the rules by sharing my story, but that only goes so far. The individual that sparked the phone call had taken my class not more than three months prior to the incident. The message must be heard more often than every three years. 

It's like the saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink!” We can provide the best training, PPE and safety tools and equipment, and we can communicate to workers the importance of working safely until we are blue in the face. But until they choose to work safely, they will continue to fall back on old industry habits when no one is looking or they think they can get the job done a little quicker. 

Creating employee buy-in requires a shift in culture to provide a constant reminder of why getting home safely every day is far more important than getting the job done 5–10 minutes faster. My challenge to you is to find your “why” and remind yourself every day that there is more on the line than just getting the job done! 

Until next time, stay safe and remember to always test before you touch.

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