C.A. Short Celebrating 75 Years of Business in 2012

A lot has happened in the 75 years since Clyde A. Short started a small candy and gift company to help local companies in the Shelby NC area celebrate the holidays. The one word that comes to mind is GROWTH. From humble beginnings, C.A. Short has grown into an international employee recognition and safety performance company with over 3300 customers and a book of business that includes some of the largest companies in the world. 2012 marks the 75th Anniversary of our company and nothing is more exciting than being able to celebrate that milestone knowing that C.A. Short is continuously growing, improving, and adapting to the industry. 2012 is an exciting year for C.A. Short and we look forward to sharing our celebration with the folks that keep us doing what we do best. Check back for fun updates on how we plan to celebrate our huge milestone throughout the year.

Motivating myself and how it relates to your company's safety culture...

In my personal life, I am not the best when it comes to change. I like a routine, I am guilty of complacency, tolerance, and normalization of deviance, I am lazy. It's not something I'm proud of, but it's the truth. Sometimes it's just easier to maintain the status quo than it is to change your outlook, habits, or behavior. But to truly achieve transformational change you not only have to change your behavior, but your view of the world. You have to not only understand the what, but the why and the how. So what am I trying to get at here? Well, besides trying to motivate myself to get to the gym tomorrow, this also applies to safety performance in the workplace.

The National Safety Council Safety & Health magazine has a great article in its November 2011 issue regarding how changing your company's safety culture improves safety performance and ultimately your company's bottom line. But what does that mean? Just like the promise to myself every Sunday that tomorrow will be the start of my new workout routine, saying and doing are two completely different things.

According to the article, Angelo Pinheiro from Marathon Oil defines safety culture as "a mindset that has its roots in the organization's policies, philosophies and management approaches." I could not agree more with this statement. Telling someone to 'be safe' is not all there is to a safety program. It's about setting expectations, training or retraining as it may be, and having consistent consequences for failure to comply. It's about maintaining morale and motivating employees* to be part of the change. It's about accountability and pride in your workplace, but most importantly it's about not only changing the mindset of the foreman, but of the CEO. Without top level buy-in, everything else is futile. It means nothing.

Changing a company's safety culture is hard work and can not be expected to change overnight. The article quotes Mark Fleming as saying “Ultimately, safety is a constant battle. You’re constantly trying to create this dynamic equilibrium where safety is being managed.” So just like maintaining a healthy lifestyle, changing a company's safety culture is an ongoing, continuously improving task that in the long run will pay dividends.

*Visit www.cashort.com/4safety to see how C.A. Short can help maintain morale and motivate employees with our proactive, behavior-based safety performance programs.

Why Safety People Are Important

Found this great link on LinkedIn today posted by Bryan Haywood of SAFTENG.net and just had to share. Couldn't be more true...
____________________________


Safety professionals have been described as different
And they really don’t understood why
Maybe it’s because they see hazards
Others tend to pass by

They are experts at finding behaviors
That lead to the accident’s cause and why.
That’s only because they are consistently observing
With a very caring eye.

Providing a safe productive work environment
While keeping the standard high
They never have another objective than,
To help ensure the life of you and I.

When you observe a safety person inspecting,
Never think of them as different than you.
They are people who are diligently working
So your future dreams can come true.

Please appreciate them for being steadfast
Never ever letting your safety stray.
Just “Thank God” for safety people
That are dedicated to the “safe production” way.

HLB - 1978

Written by Bryan Haywood
Wednesday, 20 July 2011 20:56

C.A. Short celebrates National Safety Month

The month of June means a lot of things to a lot of people. School's out for the kids, the first day of summer, vacation planning... but for those who make safety a priority in the workplace, June means the start of the National Safety Council sponsored National Safety Month. It's a fun time to boost awareness and reaffirm that safety plays an imperative role within your organization.


When creating a comprehensive safety program., C.A. Short feels as though safety performance programs are just a piece of the pie. While individually the pieces are important (and delicious), if one piece is eliminated the pie is incomplete, and no one wants to serve a pie with a bite missing, do they?

C.A. Short May Tradeshow Update

May is always a busy tradeshow month for C.A. Short. We are attending 6 tradeshow in a 2 week time. While it's a busy time, it's always a fun time to meet the many faces of the human resources and safety industries. Being able to reach 1000's of professionals in these industries and speak about employee recognition and safety performance programs is what it's all about

Last week Kristin and Rod attended the Gulf Coast Symposium put on by the people at HR Houston. It was a great show that gave us the opportunity to discuss our years of service and employee recognition programs to the leaders of human resources.
Last week John was also able to discuss our safety performance programs at the Washington Metropolitan Area Construction Safety Association's Conference in Rockville MD. It was our first time attending, but gave great exposure to the thought leaders of the local construction industry.

This week we're gearing up for the Truckload Carriers Association Safety & Security, North Carolina Statewide Safety, Wisconsin Safety & Health, AND the North Carolina Healthcare Human Resources shows. Whew! I get tired just thinking about it!

C.A. Short Employee Recognition Banquet Funnies

The one thing you can say about C.A. Short is we don't take ourselves too seriously. The hilarious management staff entertained the masses at our annual employee recognition banquet last week. It was a lot of fun and a great way to show our employees how much we appreciate all that they do to make C.A. Short a success. Our slogan isn't "People are Everything" for nothing, you know?

C.A. Short Supports the American Cancer Society-Relay for Life

For many years C.A. Short has made it a priority to help support the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life campaign. We've been gearing up for this year's local relay happening at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds on May 20, 2011, with candy/bake sales, customized t-shirts, and even a company-wide yard sale in the parking lot. It's been a lot of fun and we are proud to support & sponser such an important cause.