(Article via The Beacon) CATAWBA – Each year, the Ottawa County Safety Council hosts a TRU Safety Conference (Teach, Review, and Understand) with a goal of enhancing accident prevention in local businesses and educating employees to create a healthier safety culture. This year’s event, which was held at the Catawba Island Club on May 6, focused on an unusual aspect of workplace safety: psychology.
The event’s keynote speaker was Ruth M. Bowdish, a licensed counselor, author, and Certified Employee Assistant Professional, who presented “Reset Before Regret: Psychological Safety at Work.” Her talk focused on practical and proactive steps employers can take to ensure that their employees’ life stresses don’t manifest in an unsafe environment.
“We’re talking about the real world,” Bowdish told the crowd. “Psychological safety can be implemented no matter what the size of the company, no matter the industry. If you work with human beings, you can have safety in the workplace.”
Bowdish gave employees advice on finding balance in life, and she encouraged employers to implement compassion into their leadership philosophy. She talked about the safety hazards and the financial risks of employees who are distracted by life stresses.
One of the goals of the program was to “explain how trust-building leadership strategies reduce fear-based silence and support a proactive safety culture.”
“Fear changes human behavior,” Bowdish said.
Leadership and employees from several local businesses attended the TRU Safety Conference, including representatives from US Gypsum and LogistiQ. The event was hosted by the Ottawa County Safety Council, which is a program of the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation and is administered by Ottawa County Improvement Corporation. The event was hosted by Safety Council Manager Jessica Grzechowiak.
“We have record attendance this year,” Grzechowiak said. “The conference expanded out of Ottawa County. We have people from Toledo, Sandusky, and Fostoria.”
For more information on the Ottawa County Safety Council, visit https://ocic.org/safety-council/.
