OUR VISION
“Our vision is to establish a 'Positive Attitude' towards Safety which, in turn, results in employees performing in a Safe manner. Through daily positive reinforcement, these Safe Attitudes, Decisions and Behaviours will be supported and encouraged. Through our positive communication process, employees will also be encouraged to improve upon Safety and apply these principles to all their activities, whether at Work, Home or in the Community.”
Jim Burns, Founder and President of PASS Inc.
The Positive Attitude Safety System (PASS) is a dynamic and organic Safety process that assists line management to encourage and reinforce Safe Attitudes, Decisions and Behaviours. This creates a positive Safety environment, which supports employees’ Safety Decisions and Attitudes, and encourages employees to bring forward their ideas on Safety improvements.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
The concepts and philosophy of what was to evolve into the Positive Attitude Safety System (PASS) were introduced to Cominco’s Sullivan Mine in the mid 1980’s by James S. Burns, a Canadian consultant. This early and crude prototype achieved significant results and in the early 1990’s was refined into the Positive Attitude Safety System with the key process components and with Jim Burns’ unique implementation approach. PASS is based on the concepts of Learned Helplessness, Positive Reinforcement (shaping of behaviours) and Intervention Therapy, which Jim Burns studied for six years at the Universities of Victoria and Calgary.
Since then, Jim Burns and his colleagues have been working with tens of thousands of people in hundreds of Natural Resource and Heavy Industrial organizations, such as mining, manufacturing, stevedoring, transportation and construction operations in Canada, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, New Zealand, Jamaica, Tanzania, Malaysia, Argentina, Pakistan and the United States of America. PASS is a dynamic process that ensures the transfer of all PASS technology to the Client. The client’s dependence on the consultant’s content expertise is not desired nor is it an objective. The goal is to establish a relationship which fosters “ownership in” and “stewardship of” the PASS process by the client. The consultant provides training, coaching, monitoring and evaluation to the client’s organization. PASS consists of Safety Huddles, Charting of crew-defined Safe Days, A Logs, SupLex White Boards, the Report-Down System,and SupLex Huddles and Dynamic Daily Safety Conversation.
The ultimate goal of PASS is the establishment of 'Continuous Improvements' in Safety,
thereby significantly reducing Lost Time Accidents and injuries to the employees.
The PASS process creates a positive Safety climate, improves work habits, increases line-management accountability for Safety, and generates greater crew involvement (which builds stronger employee commitment to Safety). This combination results in dramatic improvements in the Safety performance of the entire operation. Short-term success is achieved through the Management Team’s utilization of PASS, whereas, long-term success is assured by the development and establishment of systems within the organization to support PASS.
Two key factors for success in implementing PASS are, firstly, the Management Team’s commitment towards the process of positive management. Secondly, the involvement/development of the Supervisors towards a positive attitude and approach for achieving/facilitating improvements. It should be noted that PASS is not designed to be a “stand alone” safety system. Maximum results will be achieved when PASS is combined with “traditional” safety systems. PASS is the first and crucial step towards “Positive Management” and would be considered a cultural-change vehicle. This process empowers employees, in all areas and at each level of the organization, to improve Safety performance and therefore positively impacts the job-climate of their operation.
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Sullivan Mine, Kimberley Operations, Cominco
World's Largest Underground Lead Zinc Mine
Despite being a crude, early version of PASS, excellent results were achieved with this positive approach to Safety. Since than, Jim Burns has implemented PASS in over a 110 operations in many Countries.
OUR HISTORY
EARLY YEARS
The PASS process was first implemented in 1985 by its developer and creator, James S. Burns, at Cominco’s underground Sullivan Mine in Kimberley BC, Canada, under the direction of Ralph Hargrave. Above Jim Burns at the Portal to the Sullivan Mine 1986.
DEVELOPMENT
Jim Burns later returned to a private consultancy and implemented the first actual PASS system, using a new implementation approach, at Rio Tinto’s Peak Gold Mines in New South Wales, Australia. The Management Team (Ross Hannigan, GM; Len Moore, Manager Organisations, Greg Jackson, Mine Manager and Enzo Artone, Process Manager) encouraged the formal development of this approach and the publishing of Jim's first book PASS: Positive Attitude Safety System. Jim, then implemented PASS with American Barrick’s (Barrick Gold) Holt-McDermott Mine in Ontario, Canada.
Jim realized that when he was no longer involved with the client, the PASS System wavered and eventually was abandoned. His new challenge was to transform his role from that of the owner of the System to the transferor of the PASS technology to the client. His consulting responsibility was then to create involvement on behalf of his clients, which would lead to a commitment to the process, finally evolving into the ownership of the PASS process.
Jim achieved this goal by using a ‘voluntary cascading approach’ with limited involvement of management during start-up and implementing the process from the bottom up. In addition, he greatly limited his actual time on-site with his clients, forcing them to take a greater hands-on approach with the process. This strategy has been very successful and allows Jim and his associates to work with a greater number of organizations.
Peak Gold Mines, Rio Tinto
Holt McDermott Mine, Barrick Gold
AT PRESENT
The original PASS material has been significantly refined by Jim Burns over the past 35 years, as a result of working with various clients and cultures around the world. In addition, through the contribution and participation of our clients, the PASS material has been translated into several languages (Bahasa Indonesia,Spanish and French). The PASS material is dynamic and reflects the constant improvements and modifications that are being made to the process.
The process has now been implemented 20 countries, all types of cultures and in all types of industries. The success of the PASS Process and the availability of excellent PASS consultants (drawn from our best clients' organizations) have allowed Jim to establish independently-owned companies who operate under geographic licenses in various countries. These companies operating under geographic license provide a more focused and beneficial service to the markets of Indonesia, New Zealand, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Malaysia, Vietnam and Africa.
We have trained over 275 PASS Masters who represent key personnel from our various clients organizations around the world. They act as Internal PASS Consultants onsite and help to Implement, Establish and Integrate the PASS System.
OUR GOAL
The goal of PASS is to improve our clients' Safety Culture by instilling in each and every employee the Safety attitude of:
"I'm going to make it Safer for myself, my fellow workmates, and leave it Safer for my cross shift!"
These SupLex Safety cultures will not only achieve world-class safety results but also the members of the organization inevitably transfer these Safety Attitudes to their activities at home and in their community. So the benefits of SupLex will extend beyond their work environment and will improve Safety for their family, neighbors and community. So the SupLex approach creates Continuous Improvement regarding the Safety of the individual, their coworkers and their cross shift.
The PASS process establishes and supports:
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a state of mind that will create and maintain Safe working conditions
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a stronger commitment to Safety
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a "continuous improvement" approach to Safety
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a daily routine for positive Safety feedback
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empowerment of employees to take control of their Safety
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an improved awareness of Safety beyond the workplace
Through this positive and proactive process, injuries are reduced, benefiting the employees and their families. Dramatic improvements in Safety are not only beneficial to the employees but also to the company’s overall performance. During brief daily team/crew meetings, employees discuss how they did yesterday and what they are going to be doing today, in terms of Safety. They also chart their own Team's Safety performance in order that they can receive positive feedback, identify trends and support their Safety standards. The involvement and development of the First Line Supervisors is crucial to the success of the entire process.
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Down Load our PDF Paper:
Wisdom, Courage and Patience
by Jim Burns
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
We are happy to announce that after considering numerous charities, we have decided to support an excellent Sponsorship Program called Chalice. We are now sponsoring a young girl named Mary in Kenya. Although it is early days, this charity has excellent ratings, operates in 15 countries and has assisted 42,000 children. www.Chalice.ca
PASS Inc. and Jim and Claire Burns are engaged in a number of worthwhile projects, supporting organizations and individuals which share the core values of PASS.
Materi Girls' Centre
For the over 35 years, Jim and Claire Burns (and then PASS Inc.) were proud to have been sponsors of the Materi Girls' Centre located in Meru, Kenya. This includes the short video on the School with the link on the left. Since the death of the founder Brother John Koczka, they have had to put their financial support on hold and are looking for another charity to help girls with their education in Kenya.
Click to watch a short video about
the Materi Girls' Centre