In previous blogs I have stressed the importance of winning the hearts and minds of your employees. Even the best safety program will produce little meaningful results without employee support and involvement. Here is a fast, down and dirty gut check so see how you measure up against “best practices:”
First, do you have a Safety Committee that meets at least once a month? The main goal of an effective Safety Committee is to provide open, two-way communication between management, safety team members and employees as respects the organization’s injury prevention activities. As such it should be a forum for the generation and discussion of ideas between management and employees as it pertains to safety and health issues. It should not be a decision making body per se. The Safety Committee should provide an open forum where employees can take part in any discussions involving their safety and welfare in the workplace. It should have the full support of upper management. Otherwise it will “die on the vine” and lose its potential. And, because representative Supervisors are on the committee, their interest in the injury prevention program will be undermined as well.
Second, does your Safety Committee review injuries, causes of loss and safety inspection reports during its monthly meetings? One of the key agenda items for the Safety Committee should be a careful review of worker injuries that have occurred. This will include a review of the accident investigation report and the supervisor’s determination of the root cause of the injury. Lessons must be learned in order to prevent a reoccurrence of the injury. Also, a copy of all department inspection and “near miss” reports should be sent to the Safety Committee for its review and comment as well. These reports will reflect exposure to potential worker injury. They also will reveal any problems or deficiencies on the part of the inspector. All reports should be discussed openly and recommendations should be made to management where appropriate. By effectively involving the Safety Committee in the injury prevention program the Safety Director will effectively access a broad spectrum of expertise which will help correct unsafe acts or conditions in the most practical manner. Also, claim management problems can be addressed and resolved as the need arises. Once consensus is reached, the Safety Director will have enlisted members of the Safety Committee who will serve as advocates of the injury prevention program throughout the organization.
Third, do you have written safety rules and procedures that have been communicated to all employees? There should be a written policy statement designed to express top management’s commitment to safety and health in the workplace. Senior management should be directly involved in making sure that it is written properly and that it expresses the true intent of top management. The success of the organization’s injury prevention efforts, and the decisions made about it, are just as important to the financial success of the organization as major capital equipment expenditures, suppliers the organization will purchase from and at what price, etc. Therefore, it is recommended that all decisions in the area of safety and health policy be made with the same degree of care and have the same level of involvement and support by top management. The Safety Director should be charged with the duty to develop the safety and health policy and secure total management commitment of it before it is communicated and implemented. It is also recommended that the organization’s safety and health team be highly involved in the development of the safety policy since they will be ultimately charged with the responsibility to carry it out. The ultimate success of the organization’s safety policy statement hinges on how well it is communicated to Supervisors and the workforce in general. Too many times organizations merely “hand out” the policy statement without taking the time to explain and promote it in a positive way to their employees. As a result, the document simply gathers dust and the intent of the policy is not carried out or enforced.
Fourth, do you have clear and written procedures for enforcing safety rules? Once safety rules have been developed and communicated, they must be fairly and consistently enforced. Irrespective of how well the organization’s safety and health policy has been designed and communicated, there still will be infractions and violations from time to time. Supervisors should be charged with the responsibility of identifying infractions and issuing safety warnings. Depending on the background, training, and personality traits of supervisors and other safety team members this may be a difficult task. Therefore, the rules should be carefully explained and training in these rules should be provided where necessary. All safety rule violations should be in writing with a clear explanation provided to the employee involved. There must also be a mechanism to handle repeat violations, including warnings, performance actions, and potentially termination. Otherwise the employees will view the organization’s safety rules to be meaningless and their safety behaviors will not change.
Finally, do you have a Safety Suggestion Program that encourages workers to report hazards and suggest ways to improve safety? As will be discussed in Chapter 8, an effective Employee Safety Suggestion Program represents a sincere attempt on the part of management to encourage employee participation in the process of identifying unsafe hazards and conditions. Encouraging and responding to employee suggestions is one of the most effective ways to demonstrate management’s sincere interest in the safety and welfare of its employees.
