Best practices in any business should involve connecting employee’s jobs, duties and activities to the organization's mission, it’s deeply rooted purpose. Employees are motivated by many factors, but chief among them is the mission and purpose of the organization where they work, particularly when the mission and purpose resonates with the employee’s values. While our drinking water jobs are often difficult and almost always under-appreciated, we excel in having a fantastic purpose: providing a vital human need - water, and making sure it’s safe! Safe drinking water delivered to someone’s tap does not happen, it results from the human and physical infrastructure devoted to that purpose. Safe drinking water comes from our Culture of Health. So let’s try to always keep this mission and our Culture of Health in mind and connect to it as we go about our jobs.
Beyond thinking about safe water and protecting public health, we can write about it in newsletters, correspondence like emails and in any and all other formats where it makes sense. How about Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)? Would an SOP be more likely to be understood and performed correctly if it includes a brief description of why it’s important and how it fits into the pantheon of needed activities to ensure that tap water is safe to drink? I believe the answer is yes. By including “the why?” in our written communications we can help everyone understand the importance of what they are doing. We should also consider adding the consequences or risks associated with not performing the activity. For example, if a sample procedure is not followed correctly, then we could get an inaccurate result that leads people to believe the water is safe, when it is actually contaminated. We could also get a result showing a danger, when none exists.
We should also talk about our Culture of Health and take those conversations to as many audiences as possible to add as many people under the umbrella as we can. This can include our families and friends, utility managers and executives, and of course each other. Let’s start conversations with discussions of “the why” and consider health risks and risk communication as well. What is the health risk associated with various contaminants? Is the risk an acute or chronic health risk? Are there populations like infants, especially vulnerable to the contaminant? How high or low are those risks? How do we communicate with the public about risks from contaminants like lead, PFAS and disinfection byproducts? What about acute risks? How would we go about communicating the need for people to boil their water or obtain an alternate source of water in an emergency?
By thinking, writing and talking about our Culture of Health including health and communication risks we can imbed this culture deeply within our organizations and expand its influence to everyone it touches. I encourage you to “focus on the why?” everyday. Thank you for all you do make tap water safe in Colorado!
➽ Ron Falco, P.E. Safe Drinking Water Program Manager
