Implementing Safety Differently for City Foresters Overseeing Tree and Vegetation Management Crews

Join us for the UCFS Learning Series co-hosted with the Utility Arborist Association!

In the evolving landscape of safety practices, the concepts of Safety I and Safety II have existed to analyze work activity and keep workers safe. The shift from traditional Safety I approaches to the contemporary Safety II, often referred to as Safety Differently, has been profound. Safety I’s reactive approach often places blame on employees, assuming errors or intentional violations as the root cause. This overlooks the actual dynamics of work in the field. Safety II seeks to understand how work truly happens. It shifts the focus from preventing incidents to ensuring positive outcomes, utilizing workers’ knowledge and experience.

In this webinar, urban and community foresters will learn how they can support their tree and vegetation management crews for:

• Training: Foresters can implement and support Safety II training programs that focus on building capacity, problem-solving skills, and adaptability by engaging crews in interactive training to ensure that workers are prepared for the dynamic nature of fieldwork.
• Mindset: City Foresters can foster a culture where workers feel safe to share their insights and experiences to encourage an understating of the real-world challenges crews face and promote a collaborative approach to safety.
• Daily Operations: In daily operations, foresters should focus on building capacity and resilience within the crews. Recognizing the expertise of the crews and involving them in safety planning can lead to more effective and practical safety measures.
• Incident Review: Safety II transforms incident reviews from blame-finding missions to learning opportunities. This approach looks at the system as a whole rather than isolating individual errors, fostering a deeper understanding of the underlying factors.
• Continuous Improvement: By adopting a Safety II approach, City Foresters can create a proactive and forward-looking safety culture that regularly reviews safety practices, learns from near-misses, and continuously adapts to new challenges.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the Evolution of Safety Practices. Comprehend the fundamental differences between Safety I and Safety II approaches.
2. Learn the core concepts of Safety II, including Human Performance Improvement (HPI) and Human and Organizational Improvement (HOP). Appreciate the shift from preventing incidents to ensuring positive outcomes by leveraging workers’ knowledge and experience.
3. Recognize the pivotal role of workers in maintaining safety within a complex and dynamic environment. Appreciate the importance of understanding the context in which employees operate to improve safety practices.

ISA CEUs applied for and pending.

Register Here!