We practice what it is like to wear a respirator, or to not wear one properly, and discuss the effects. But perhaps one of the best ways to encourage workers to wear respirators comes from Safety Director Stanley Shively of INC-Agrico Co., Mulberry, Fla., who is blessed with a low employee turnover rate and workers who possess a keen sense of plant pride. They police each other through peer pressure. Sometimes people won't listen to upper management, but they will listen to their buddies. He claims his respirator program is working much more effectively since he put safety observers on the floor.
Some people say Shively's situation is unique.
Barry Weissman, REM, CSP, CHMM, full-time regulatory manager for a chemical company, and head of Weissman Consultants, L.L.C., claims he has never seen employees so committed to safety that they've looked out for each other this way. But he does have a few other compliance tricks up his sleeve. So do some other safety experts. He, along with Weissman, understands the complaints workers have, and sympathizes with them because he realizes that when you have to hang a piece of equipment on someone, then all else has failed. But when you can't substitute a material for a less toxic one, then you are admitting to the employee that you can't control the toxins, that respirator is a last-ditch effort to protect them.