Many times on a job, a safety problem arises. These can usually be dealt with quickly. For example, there’s a small spill; you clean it up. The lighting is inadequate; you set up a portable light. You notice a portable cord running across the steps you need to use; you unplug it and restring it so it’s out of the way.

But what if there’s a big spill? Per the spill procedure, you leave the area and report the spill to the spill response team via the shift supervisor. And then you notify your supervisor. Your supervisor thanks you for the update and ends the call. Without reassigning you. What just happened?

Your supervisor manages several projects at once and may not even be aware the spill was in your work area. Now you’ll be standing around waiting for instructions that won’t come until someone connects the dots. This is bad for your company; the financial effect of just a few such instances can lead to layoffs or other cutbacks (raises, equipment, training, etc.).

Your responsibilities are safety, environment, and production (your work output) — in that order. These are not mutually exclusive; addressing a safety issue doesn’t bar you from addressing a production issue. Relative importance and absolute importance are not the same things. Each of these is very important; it’s just that environment nudges past production, and safety nudges past environment.

When your work is stopped, you need to tell your supervisor explicitly that you need a new assignment. Your communication must eliminate confusion and the subsequent wasting of labor hours.

When you report a safety issue to your supervisor, make sure that person knows:

1. What the incident is and where it occurred;
2. Whether anyone in your crew was injured;
3. Whether anyone else was injured;
4. How the incident affects the job you are on;
5. About how long it will be until the situation is corrected. Or if you do not know, then tell your supervisor you do not know how long it will be until the problem is fixed; and
6. Whether you believe you need to be reassigned.

Look at the order of these items. Can you see the logic behind it?

Your supervisor may ask you additional questions; it is important that you not take your best guess instead of saying when you do not know. Our minds like to fill in details. Take a moment before replying so you can filter out this “information” and recall only what you saw, heard, felt, and smelled.

Keep in mind that these situations produce emotional stress that can take the clear thinking and accurate recall parts of your mind offline. Before recounting an event, follow the old advice to take a deep breath; it has a calming effect.

If it’s an OSHA-reportable or EPA-reportable incident, you may be contacted by the appropriate internal party (e.g., safety director or HR) or an agency field officer to answer questions. As before, don’t let your mind fill in details. If you blurt out something that isn’t true, stop. Don’t give in to the temptation to follow this line out of concern for your credibility. Correct yourself as soon as you realize your error. Skilled investigators expect some confusion. Catching and correcting your error enhances, rather than damages, your credibility.