Safety programs spend enormous effort teaching workers how to manage hazards that other people had an opportunity to eliminate, reduce or reshape months earlier. Better safety training must move upstream.

The employee at the machine receives guarding training. The maintenance technician receives lockout training. The driver receives defensive-driving training. The construction worker receives fall-protection training. The warehouse employee receives lifting instruction. When something goes wrong, the first question is often whether the worker was trained.

But long before that worker encountered the hazard, other people made decisions that shaped the exposure. Someone selected the equipment. Someone […]