Workplace Safety

Every safety program has two major objectives: injury prevention and compliance with company policies, and state and federal regulations. But, somewhere along the way, a safety program has to pay for itself in terms of increased production, reduced workers’ compensation costs, and improvements in employee morale. The safety program has to add value, otherwise, it becomes a drain on resources and it will be hard to keep management and employees interested. Avoiding fines and penalties in the event of a compliance inspection is another cost savings that can be realized, but be very hard to quantify.

Injury prevention and compliance doesn’t always go hand in hand. It’s possible to have very few injuries and no compliance or great compliance and lots of injuries. To get both, safety has to become part of the organizational culture. The success of an environmental, health and safety program depends on the participation of everyone in the company. Without buy-in at all levels, the safety program will be just another book collecting dust.

The recommendation from the experts (including OSHA) is to get employees at all levels involved in the development of a safety program. A safety program has to be approved and implemented from the highest levels, but getting input from all levels gives everyone some degree of ownership. This will give your employees an incentive to comply with necessary changes in policy, procedures and culture and greatly increase the chance of success.

Buy-in, or the willingness of an employee to follow the rules, is an important ingredient in a successful program. Most people are willing to work safely, I’ve never known anyone who went to work and decided to get hurt, but there is a natural resistance to change. Injuries happen. A bigger problem exists when people expect to get hurt on the job. Injury prevention is a key to success. If you can keep your workers from getting hurt, everything else just gets better. Production, quality, employee morale and the bottom line all improve.

After a program is in place, it may be necessary to conduct some training to make sure everyone knows the rules and what is expected. Responsibility for the program has to be assigned at all levels. After that, it’s a matter of monitoring the workplace, correcting errors and holding employees at all levels accountable for safety. Enforcement of the rules has to be consistent and evenly applied. The program has to be evaluated periodically to identify what’s working, and fix what isn’t working.

A key step to preventing injuries is to keep employees focused on doing their job in a safe manner. One way to do that is to conduct a task specific job safety briefing before starting work. This briefing can be called a job safety analysis, job hazard analysis or anything you want to call it. The important thing is to keep your employees involved in the process and focused on doing their job safely.

The immediate supervisor should conduct a job safety briefing at the beginning of each workday and anytime the scope of the work changes significantly. The purpose of the briefing is to identify the steps needed to accomplish the task, the hazards that are expected and ways to eliminate the hazards or keep the worker from getting hurt. Input from employees involved in the task should be used to identify all the hazards associated with the task. Upper level managers should attend occasionally and the safety manager on a regular basis to give management support to the process and to demonstrate that safety is a major corporate concern.

The task specific safety briefing is an important tool and can be used in conjunction with a task debriefing to keep the employees focused on doing their job safely. The debriefing should get input from the employee and identify what went right, what went wrong and what can be done to correct what went wrong. It keeps the employee involved in the safety program and makes them part of the solutions that continue to reduce injuries in the workplace.

There is a lot of information available from the OSHA website. Many states offer assistance in developing workplace safety programs and there are many commercial resources like JJ Keller and BLR that can help start an effective safety and health program.

When Safety and Health are part of the organization culture and a way of life, everyone wins. Employees have fewer injuries, and the bottom line always improves.

A workplace safety program should have two major objectives; injury prevention and compliance. While both are important, they do not always go hand in hand. It is entirely possible to have few injuries and poor compliance or a lot of injuries and excellent compliance. It takes a concerted effort to have both and this is an area where a lot of companies have difficulty. A company, no matter how large or small, must have an effective workplace safety program with a vision of greatness, commitment and involvement by all to achieve a high level of injury prevention and compliance with federal and state laws and company policy.

From a personal perspective, injury prevention is more important. A good injury prevention program reduces absenteeism, improves employee morale and ultimately increases the bottom line by increasing production and reducing costs. Employees are the most valuable resource any company has. If an employee gets hurt, it takes valuable time to take care of the injured person, do investigations and complete the paperwork. Production always slows because people come to look or help. If the injured person is disabled, there are workers’ compensation costs and reduced production that has a negative impact on profitability.

So, the question is; how do you get a good injury reduction and compliance safety program? There’s a lot of help available from OSHA, state governments, and most insurance companies that is free or low cost. A lot of consultants are available and companies like JJ Keller and BLR offer assistance in developing a safety program. Few offer help in implementation and follow-up though. The following steps are things I consider to be essential in building an effective program:

1. Do an evaluation of the company processes, procedures and products to determine which safety standards apply. There is a guide to OSHA requirements at http://www.ehso.com/safety.php. It’s free and easy to use.

2. Conduct a fact finding tour. An audit must be completed, either by a third party or in-house (using a good audit checklist), to determine where you’re at. This audit must identify and record hazards and unsafe conditions and practices that lead to injuries and non-compliance situations. The auditor should make recommendations for eliminating hazards and correcting non-compliance issues. It must also include federal and state recordkeeping requirements. The audit will help in identifying policies and procedures that should be part of the written safety manual.

3. Develop and document a safety vision and establish attainable goals. These steps should involve all stake-holders in the safety process, including upper and lower level manager and supervisor representatives. The vision will provide the direction for the safety program and provide corporate level support for the changes that may occur in the implementation stage of the program. Including managers, supervisors and employee representatives at all levels will help ensure buy in by all employees when the program is implemented and changes are made in the workplace.

4. Write a site specific safety manual. The manual should define the safety program and the policies and procedures that will be implemented in the workplace. If there are multiple locations, write a core manual with attachments that define site specific requirements for each location.

5. Conduct a peer review of the manual, with managers and employee representatives. Incorporating recommended changes that make sense will help ensure that the program is implemented with as little resistance to change as possible. The finished manual should be a fluid document that responds to changes as new products and procedures are introduced in the workplace.

6. Implement the safety program. Provide and document training for all employees on the new policies and procedures. Make sure the employees are aware of the need for changes as well as what the changes in policies and procedures are.

7. Provide follow-up activities to ensure that the new safety program is implemented as intended. Use a 90-day evaluation period to make sure that documentation is being provided to the safety department or human resources. After six months, evaluate the safety program to make sure it is in alignment with the vision and that the goals are being reached. Make any adjustments necessary to the program.

A successful safety and health program will include the steps listed above. It must have the commitment and support of corporate management and should be directed by a person with vision, enthusiasm and a passion for safety. Buy in at all levels is necessary to ensure that behavioral changes are made in the workforce. Employees will “own” the program, work toward the established goals and the business will have fewer injuries, reduced workers compensation costs and enjoy a corresponding increase in production and profitability.