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... , and safety. I believe that they're interrelated. Without a strong safety component, productivity, quality, and certainly profitability will suffer. Therefore, we must integrate safety into the hiring, orientation, and training processes. In today's environment, safety can no longer be considered a staff function with only safety professionals responsible for results. In smaller enterprises, the agent can become a major influence in molding these elements together. The effort should be made not just for the sake of safety, but to improve morale. For instance, a sanitary district had special trucks to pick up heavy items, such as refrigerators and washing machines, but did not supply its workers with hand trucks. The workers had to move heavy items manually from the curb to the truck-not a safe environment. The employees ... that improve productivity and quality. One of my industrial clients told me that communication with the work force had greatly improved since the start of the employee safety program. I approach safety in an orthodox way. Approximately eight employees meet once a month for an hour. We review accident reports to pinpoint the accidents' causes, and make recommendations for corrective action. We walk around the facility on an inspection tour identifying hazards. During the tour, we solicit employees' views and suggestions about safety. For example, employees were having difficulty continually transferring boxes containing 40 pounds of chocolates from the production line to a staging area. There was no room to install a conveyor. Someone on the committee suggested getting plastic buckets to transport 20 pounds of product, thereby halving the weight load. A simple ...