“Would my first day on the job also be my last?”  That’s the question I asked myself shortly after midnight, while beginning my summer factory job on the graveyard shift, as a high school senior.

 The plant foreman conducted the orientation of the summer help, explaining the spinning parts of the cumbersome machine that produced drain pipes.  He said, “When the rotating parts get clogged, use your hands to unclog it.  Just make sure you’re faster than the machine.”

 Toward daybreak we met the full-time factory workers.  I noticed each employee was missing one or more fingers, or worse.

 That first night I learned two lessons that have stayed with me ever since.

• The machine is typically faster than you are

•  Most people take unnecessary risks, and often the negative consequences far outweigh any potential benefits

This planted the seed of what would become ASSET.

 I completed my summer job, and headed off to college; fortunately, with all my body parts intact.  I gave little thought to these life lessons for more than a decade, until I began work as the executive director of a trade association, in Albany, New York.  OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, began levying substantial fines on our members’ businesses.

 In response, I created a team that developed a safety, health and environmental compliance program for our members.  It won top honors in a nationwide competition as the “most comprehensive program of its kind in the nation,” from the American Society of Association Executives, in 1992.

 “Was this program transferable to other businesses, in different industries?” I wondered.  I decided to find out, and left this trade association and founded ASSET (Applied Safety Systems, Education & Training corporation), in 1993. I nurtured and grew ASSET, primarily as a provider of safety and environmental services for associations.

 At ASSET, our four decades of experience confirms that our safety model works across multiple, diverse industries.  With its emphasis on worker engagement, we teach and motivate employees to make smart decisions so they can minimize their risky actions. And, businesses benefit from employees who are productive, rather than injured. 

 As ASSET grows and adopts new technologies to address workplace challenges in the 21st century, we also take time to reflect on the nature of work and our vision.  For example, will artificial intelligence eliminate some jobs? Probably. 

However, as long as there are workers who think they are faster than a machine, and act in a way that can cause injuries to life or limb, there will always be a demand for ASSET’s services.  We embrace the challenge of teaching employees how to work smarter and safer in a world where the pace of change only increases.

By: Dan Harrison, Certified Safety Professional (CSP), and Founder of ASSET