Priority vs. Value: What Is Safety To You?

There are plenty of cliché sayings in the world of safety. Few are as popular as the phrase “Your Safety is Our Top Priority”. This and those like it are used by companies for a variety of reasons; Some have the best intentions – to show their employees that they care about their well-being – while others use simply to portray their desire for a safe workplace. Regardless of the intention, there is one glaring issue with the above phrase, the term “priority”.

One of the greatest battles for safety professionals is that of “value” vs. “priority” and where safety falls within the two. In order to accurately address this argument, we have to define the differences between them.

A priority is something that we strongly intend to do. It is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as “the fact or condition of being regarded or treated as more important.” When applied to the workplace, priorities change on a day by day or even task by task basis. One day the priority could be to complete a specific phase of a project while the following day it could be to order the supplies for the next. Any project or job site requires a series of moving pieces that are prioritized differently depending on the situation.

Value, on the other hand, is defined as “ a person’s principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgment of what is important in life”. A person’s set of values supersedes any specific situation regardless of time or place. If someone values treating others with respect, they are likely to do so at home, at work, or somewhere in between. To this person, respect is a standard by which they live each moment of their life therefore it is very unlikely to change due to circumstances.

In order to institute safer practices, safety must be a value, not a priority. It needs to be something that is applied to every aspect of life no matter the time and place. Whether you are at the top of the company or the bottom, your safety, and everyone else’s, should be your top value.

FDRsafety’s Safety Culture Training has impacted over 500,000 members of our nation’s workforce by focusing on “The Why” of Safety. Our Experts motivate workers to want to be safe, and improves safety performance throughout organizations. For more information please contact Flavius Brown – Vice President at FDRsafety.