‘Find your focus’ to stay safe, motivational speaker advises

At the NSC Congress & Expo Technical Session “Find Your Focus” on Wednesday morning, safety engineer and motivational speaker Richard Hawk described how to reduce incidents and mistakes by paying better attention.

New technology such as smartphones has affected our ability to pay attention, he said, which leads to problems with safety. “We’re all becoming addicted to this,” he said.

Logic does not drive decisions and behaviors, Hawk said, but emotions do. To help manage stress and emotions, Hawk cited research that recommends people drink more water, get enough sleep and practice mindfulness.

Regarding the latter, Hawk said safety professionals and workers should pick one thing a day to spend a few moments focusing on. “Spend time paying attention to what you’re doing in an objective way,” he said.

(For more advice from Hawk, check out his monthly column in Safety+Health magazine.)