Maybe some of you will remember the song titled “Safety Dance” from the ‘80s. While I don’t necessarily understand how the lyrics of this song inspired the name or vice versa, I cannot help but hum it when I think of addressing safety in our daily operations. If I were writing the song’s lyrics, I would have included such things like hairball tumbleweeds blowing across the floor, a 100-pound female staff member trying to control a leashed pet that outweighs her by 50 pounds, an unhappy senior dog on the grooming table, a reach into a cage to grab a timid and unpredictable first-time pet visitor, or breaking up a tussle between two pets in daycare. Not that any of you would admit it, but I bet some of your equipment is kept together with duct tape and wire ties, or you have electric cords strewn about the floor, waiting to catch someone’s foot or worse – a puddle of water.

These are among just a few circumstances we face in our daily activities in this business, and yet many of us float along, day after day, acting instinctively and sometimes haphazardly until we get injured or a pet gets injured. You delay getting replacement parts for dilapidated equipment, act as if you didn’t notice the water on the floor, don’t properly sanitize after every mess, allow a questionable dog into the play group, or conveniently forget to repair the fence or loose door latch. The famous saying holds true: It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

“Well, Joe…” you might claim. “We don’t have the time or money to have the best equipment, the best facilities, or the best environments to work in.” I totally understand this, but one thing is absolutely necessary: you must have the best safety practices or you might not have your place, your employees, or your customers much longer.

Here are some helpful hints that do not cost anything but your attention.

Step One: Take off your blinders.
A racehorse goes fast… in one direction. To do this, it wears blinders to keep it from being distracted by anything around it and to keep it focused on the only job at hand, which is getting to the finish line. While this may work for a racehorse, it is a very dangerous way for you to operate. You must see the entire environment around you, taking mental notes of possible dangers to you, your clients, and the pets. Get distracted. You are not a racehorse.

Step Two: Have a plan.
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Create a safety plan for you and your staff or co-workers. While a fire escape plan or other disaster preparedness is absolutely necessary, I am also strongly suggesting you have a plan for everyday, much smaller circumstances that could cause big problems, such as simple cleanliness and organization. Have a zero-tolerance rule for keeping things tidy and putting things away in their proper storage place. Create a place where you keep safety devices such as muzzles, slip leads, snares, bite gloves, etc. so that you and your staff know where these things are at any time. It’s nice to have such a place to go when you need something, but make sure you put these devices back in their place so the next time they are needed, they are only an arm’s reach away.

Step Three: Enforce.
This is for you business owners and managers out there. Let me ask you a question. If a staff member constantly broke policy rules, how long would you be able to keep them? If you have an employee that hit a pet, how long would you keep them? If someone insulted or was rude to a customer, would they remain employed long? Seems like a no brainer, right?! Then why do we often accept violations of safety in our business? The costs of someone getting hurt or worse could be astronomical!

Step Four: Enjoy.
Your job is hard. Our industry is difficult. Pets are unpredictable. Employee recruitment and retention is always a challenge. This being said, why add safety violations to the mix if it is something that can be preventable? Keep your efforts focused on building your business and satisfying your customers. The more energy you spend handling something that could have been prevented is time away from the positive things in your business.

Think of it this way: if you were tasked with building a dam across one of the strongest rivers in the world, wouldn’t you sleep better at night knowing that you planned it correctly, built it with the proper materials, hired the correct people to erect it, and maintained it with diligence and precision? This dam will keep the people living downstream safe forever.

Build a “safety dam” mentality in your business. Whether it is something we can see, like trip hazards and aggressive dogs, or something we cannot see, like germs and bacteria, we need to pay strict attention to the safety of our staff, our clients, our business, and ourselves. Take the initiative and designate yourself as your own safety officer, establishing expectations and policing adherence to your safety laws.

Stay safe. Your business depends on it.

Joe Zuccarello has excelled in the pet industry since 1986 and is a pet industry consultant and National Accounts Sales Manager for Tropiclean Shampoo and Fresh Breath Made Easy! Dental products for dogs and cats. To find out more about Tropiclean Shampoos and Tropiclean Fresh Breath Made Easy! dental products, please visit www.tropiclean.net or call 800-542-7387. Check out Joe’s blog by visiting joezuccarello.com.

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