I honestly don’t recall where I cribbed this quote from. The “Absence of Accidents” part appears in a few different books and sources. Each author tends to define the “presence” part a few different ways.

This was one of the first quotes I put on the board, appearing early in 2020. Since that time, I hear it or once of it’s allegories pop up in context on a safety lecture or safety share every few months, and it makes me smile.

When we work in safety and accidents, our measures of success are reducing negative outcomes. Eventually, we improve to a point there are no more accidents. We have removed something, but have we created anything?

For as many controls as we enact to prevent accidents and injury, we must also spend as much time on education and awareness. We must create an atmosphere where we are able to teach, learn, and grow; where safety is not an item to be achieved but a practice that is woven into the fabric of our operations.

Every company needs to find their own mix of training, discipline, controls, technology, awareness, and action. Focusing on just one of these areas might be able to create an absence of accidents, but never the culture that brings a true presence of safety to an operation.