For your own safety

One of the goals of our laws and regulations is to protect us from that which threatens us. The Dutch law, for instance, stipulates that if you ride a moped or motorcycle, you must wear an approved helmet. Many international studies have shown that wearing a motorcycle helmet reduces the chance of an accident being fatal by approximately 42%, and the chance of serious head injury by about 69%. (swov). After its introduction in 1972, this obligation has been generally accepted and is practically fully complied with. Makes sense, you might think: after all, it’s about your own safety.

But not everyone has rules imposed on them ‘just like that’. Some laws and regulations are met with difficulty, often dependent on the punishment and the chance of being caught. The method of enforcement plays an important role. 

In order to ensure food safety, laws, regulations and protocols have been set up: to protect consumers. Against pesticides, pathogenic bacteria, heavy metals or certain allergens in the products they eat. Still, the many recalls show that things regularly go wrong. How is this possible? Partly because the rules are intentionally violated or negligently ignored. 

What can you, as management, do to positively influence compliance on the work floor? The fact is: as soon as a decision affects you directly, you act differently. Ask yourself and your employees the following question: what if you were producing for your own parents, partner or children; would you still throw that product that fell off the production line onto the ground back into the production process? Would you fail to wash and disinfect your hands after a lunch or toilet break? What if your careless decision causes a bacteria or allergen to end up in a product, which ends up making your partner, parents, child, or yourself terribly ill; what would you do then? 

Pieter Vos
Director Nutrilab