“Safety is our top priority.” Neil Shaw, BP’s COO for global projects said this in court testimony to determine the company’s liability for the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Where have you heard that before?

Of course, the places we’ve heard the “safety is our top priority” phrase before are:

• here at Stratus
• from our clients
• other workplaces
• from people who speak at safety conferences, and
• just about anywhere in the business world when someone is asked the question, “How does employee safety figure into your organization?”

It’s cliché.

Oh, many people actually mean what they say. These are the ones who, every day, send their employees and themselves home in the same condition they came into work because of their commitment to safety.

Words are words without actions to back them up.  Just what do the words “safety is our top priority” mean to you, and how do you really show that?  When was the last time you submitted a safety observation the the Stratus Safety Team?  What was the last notable safe act you conducted.