By now, everyone on our project sites and offices should have received their “Make It Personal” safety stickers. Please put them on your helmets, or anywhere where it can be serve as a personal reminder about the importance of safety both at work and outside of work.

The “Make it Personal” sticker was initially used to identify those team members who had completed the IIF Orientation. We quickly realized that the power of that statement went beyond just checking who had completed the training. The “Make It Personal” message embodies the “why” we do what we do when it comes to our safety and the safety of others. It highlights the fact that behind every safety incident, there’s a real person who is impacted, along with people who are connected to them: family members, co-workers, friends, etc. It acknowledges that the person impacted could be any one of us; it could be you!

Research shows that our beliefs about a specific topic shape our attitudes, which in turn drive our actions and behaviors. When we believe in and acknowledge the impact of safety on our personal wellbeing and the wellbeing of others, including our loved ones, we’re more willing to embrace a mindset that proactively 1) plans for safety; 2) communicates with others; 3) observes changes and deviations from the plan; and 4) improves future plans based on lessons learned from the past. That’s the essence of our SafeRing Program:  Making Safety Personal, Making It Yours.

As we continue along our corporate journey to an Incident and Injury Free workplace, we’ve renamed our “Safety Moment” at the start of all meetings to “Make It Personal Moment.” While the safety-focused content for these discussions remains the same, we’re now emphasizing how that content relates to you personally based on your experience at work and outside of work.  Hence, we’d like to invite you to make the most of the “Make It Personal” moment next time you have an opportunity to share with others about your own safety journey. Make it yours!