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Is there a simple method to increase employee safety awareness, reduce injuries and loss-making events, lower operating costs, improve overall productivity, and improve employee morale?

The answer is yes! There are many ways to achieve this, and as a business leader, you can address this challenge simply by developing and managing your security process more effectively. This will lead to an effective safety culture as everyone begins to trust the system.

The question: How do I go about doing this? There is a simple answer! No matter how sophisticated you think your security efforts are, your system can always be improved. Our discussion will include all organizations, no matter how small.

To understand where you are in compliance, you may consider implementing a few resources to evaluate your current system and see if the mandatory legal requirements are being maintained as intended by the regulatory requirements. In the United States, the Federal Occupational Safety Act (OSHA) states that “employers must provide a workplace free from recognized hazards that are causing or may cause death or serious physical injury to employees.”

The current OSHA format is written in a way that fragments the safety process into a series of separate programs. Therefore, this series of articles will briefly discuss each section of the Guide and the enhanced benefits you can expect from implementation.

As we continue with our series, we will provide an explanation of how to implement each requirement. In addition, we will include some tools that will help to start or improve your security system. Therefore, the basic elements presented in this series are intended to cover all industries and organizations regardless of size. You will find that once you understand the basics and start implementing these concepts, you may want to expand and / or improve the security system to meet your organization. Program Elements You should be aware that there are consistent elements associated with each OSHA voluntary safety process. We will discuss these elements in more detail throughout this article series.

In voluntary programs, OSHA describes five elements that will help you create a successful management system. For simplicity, we have divided these items into six sections. While management and employee involvement is complementary and forms the core of an effective safety process, we want to ensure that everyone understands that there is still a clear and distinctive difference between operation management and employee involvement. .

Compliance with OSHA standards is an important goal. However, if you develop a successful management system, this will not be a problem. In this article we will discuss what we believe to be the core elements of any successful security system, management leadership, and employee engagement. Management leadership Top-down management leadership is the most important part of any process. “Lip service” is not going to work for you. If management demonstrates commitment, provides the motivating force and adequate resources to manage safety, an effective system can be developed and sustained. According to OSHA, this demonstration of leadership must include the following elements that are consistent with an effective program:

  • Establish the program responsibilities of managers, supervisors, and employees for safety and hold them accountable for meeting these responsibilities.
  • Provide managers, supervisors, and employees with the authority, access to relevant information, training, and resources they need to carry out their security responsibilities.
  • Identify at least one manager, supervisor or employee to receive and respond to reports on safety conditions and, where appropriate, to initiate corrective actions.

If employees can see the emphasis that top management places on safety, they are more likely to emphasize it in their own work and personal activities. It is important that management and supervision follow established safety rules and work practices, which will set a good example for all employees.

Managers must show their commitment and involvement in other ways. For example, conducting safety inspections throughout the plant; personally stop potentially hazardous activities or conditions until the hazards can be corrected or controlled; personal monitoring of safety performance; and hold managers and employees accountable for their actions.

Elements of managerial leadership should also include ensuring equal safety for all hired employees. Just remember that management must demonstrate their commitment. Actually, demonstration means “do what I do.” This is an important concept no matter what you are trying to achieve, always “walk on the fly and do the talking.” Remember: actions speak louder than words.

Below are some basic elements where management must show leadership in providing a safe workplace. Safety Policy By developing a clear policy statement to support management, you help everyone involved in the workplace understand the importance of safety in relation to other organizational values. By clearly communicating the policy to all employees, you ensure that there is no confusion when a conflict arises between two of these values, such as productivity, quality, and safety. This is important as it sets the stage for a successful process. Goals and objectives You should make your general security policy as specific as possible by setting clear goals and objectives for the organization. These goals and objectives establish the framework for the assignment of specific responsibilities. Each employee must be able to view their work activities in terms of progressing towards the set goals and achieving the objectives.

Don’t get caught writing a document for a policy statement and hoping employees will remember the rules. For example, I was involved in several situations where there was a written policy statement consisting of 2 pages, a 40-page set of work rules, and department-specific work rules. What is needed is a simple statement that sets the stage and something that everyone can remember. Assignment of Responsibilities Everyone in the workplace should have some kind of responsibility for safety. Clear assignments help avoid overlaps or gaps in completing required activities. In particular, you must ensure that the security professional is not assigned a line responsibility that properly pertains to line direction and supervision. This line responsibility would include functions such as monitoring and evaluating employee performance in areas of safety, providing on-the-job training on safe work practices and any required personal protective equipment (PPE), and encouraging employee participation in safety activities. safety.

These responsibilities should flow logically from the goals and objectives that were established to meet the overall goals of the management system. Provision of authority Any assignment of responsibility must be accompanied by adequate authority and resources. The latter includes properly trained and equipped employees, as well as sufficient capital and operating financing. Accountability Once you’ve assigned responsibility and provided the proper authority and resources to all employees, you need to follow up by holding those employees accountable for accomplishing what they were asked to do. Accountability is crucial to helping employees understand how important their individual performances are, allowing them to take personal responsibility for their actions and performance. Employee participation In any successful security system, employees must have the opportunity to participate in the establishment, implementation, and evaluation of the security process.

Employee participation provides the means that allow them to develop and / or express their commitment to safety with themselves and / or with their co-workers. To meet and improve employee engagement, management must implement some form of the following elements:

  • Communicate regularly with all employees about safety issues.
  • Provide employees with access to information relevant to the security system.
  • Provide ways for employees to be involved in hazard identification and assessment, prioritizing hazards, safety training, and management system evaluation.
  • Establish procedures in which employees can report work-related incidents promptly and ways they can make recommendations on appropriate solutions to control identified hazards
  • Provide quick responses to reports and recommendations.

It is important to remember that, under an effective management system, employers do not discourage employees from reporting safety hazards and making recommendations about incidents or hazards, or participating in the safety process.

Sources:

“Developing an Effective Safety Culture: A Leadership Approach” by James Roughton

“Occupational Hazard Analysis” by James Roughton and Nathan Crutchfield.

The Safety Program Management Guidelines, published in the Federal Register (54 FR 3908) on January 26, 1989

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