Have you ever seen the movie "Back to the Future?" It doesn’t matter if you’ve seen the first… second or third movie, the plots are all the same. There is an event that happens, that Marty and Doc know is going to happen, and they’ve traveled back in time (or in the case of the second movie, travel to the future) to stop it from happening.

Wouldn’t it be so nice if safety professionals had a DeLorean that they could use any time there was an injury on the job? First, to stop the incident from ever happening, but also to analyze what happened in the moments leading up to the event that will now cost this business money, and that employee the opportunity to go home healthy that night.

According to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, safety professionals would be starting up that DeLorean quite a bit as serious work injuries and fatalities are on the rise. In 2019, the latest year for BLS’ data, there were 888,220 nonfatal injuries and illnesses that caused an industry worker to miss at least one day of work. Even worse, 5,333 workers lost their lives on the job due to a work-related injury, that’s up two percent from the total in 2018.

If there is one thing that all safety professionals can agree on – it’s that those numbers, those injuries and fatalities, those numbers are too high. The collective industry is working hard to address these serious injuries and fatalities and are working tirelessly to address the hazards that lead to them, but what if we could be doing more?

In today’s episode, I sit down with Joseph Solheid, Director of Safety Sales for the Eastern Business Unit at Fastenal. Our conversation dives into serious injuries and fatalities and what safety professionals could be doing to prevent and anticipate injuries on the job.

While "Back to the Future" is just a movie and a time traveling car is just a fancy prop, safety professionals can arm themselves with ways to see the future and prevent serious injuries and fatalities. How, you ask? Well, we talk about all that and more in this episode! Listen to this important conversation on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify and more. 

A special thank you to Fastenal. 

Fastenal is a supply chain solutions company. They distribute and manage inventory on critical industrial and construction supplies. With 21,000 employees across 3,000 locations, you can find Fastenal in 26 countries. As a global product distributor with over $5 billion in annual sales, the company has an expansive logistics network. Fastenal specializes in supply chain consultation and the implementation of inventory control technologies.

With great people and great technology, Fastenal partners with customers to bring supplies, visibility, and efficiencies to their organization. https://www.fastenal.com/en/927/safety-resources