Yesterday’s Advisor presented an infographic highlighting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) top 10 common citations—and how many of them are related to a lack of training. Today, we provide 10 steps to a successful safety program.
Safety professionals have long been advised to integrate safety into overall business operations rather than to make it a stand-alone function. But what is the most direct path to that much-desired integration? The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) takes a business plan approach in its 10-Step Business Plan for Safety, A Guide for Developing Organizational Excellence in Safety and Health Management. Keep reading to learn what the steps are, and how they can benefit your organization.
Step 1: Active Senior Management
The first step in the BWC business plan model involves leadership. According to BWC, “visible senior management leadership within your organization promotes safety management as an organizational value.” Members of senior management, including the top on-site executive, should act as role models for how all employees contribute to a safe working environment.
Step 2: Employee Involvement and Recognition
An effective program requires that employees be involved in and recognized for their participation in the safety process. Examples of participation opportunities include:
- Participating in accident investigations;
- Conducting safety and health audits;
- Serving as safety trainers; and
- Serving on focus groups, committees, and safety and health involvement teams, which help focus dialogue between management and nonmanagement employees.
Step 3: Medical Treatment and Return-to-Work Practices
Quality medical care provided in a timely manner helps injured employees and contains workers’ compensation costs. Successful employers work hard to establish and maintain relationships with healthcare providers.
Establish lines of communication with area clinics, hospitals, and providers. Educate them about the nature of your business, your workforce, risks, and controls. Make sure to clarify roles, responsibilities, and expectations.
Why you should have a safety committee, even if it’s not legally mandated. Join us for a live webinar on Thursday, October 15th on Safety Committees.
Step 4: Communication
Regular safety and health communication keeps employees informed and, when done right, elicits feedback and suggestions. Safety communication is a two-way process—from top down and from bottom up. Leaders should consistently share safety messages, and employees should be encouraged to identify and report obstacles to safety without fear of reprisal.
Step 5: Timely Notification of Claims
When an injury occurs, the most critical step is to arrange for appropriate medical care for the employee. Next, investigate and document the circumstances, and report the injury to the claim handler. Timely reporting helps open lines of communication with providers and insurers, develops accurate information to help manage the claim, and gets benefits to the injured employee on a timely basis.
Step 6: Assign an Accident-Prevention Coordinator
The accident-prevention coordinator supports line management, supervisors, employees, and safety staff in the effort to achieve effective safety systems and processes. Roles for the coordinator can include:
- Identifying safety-training needs through surveys, interviews, and other methods;
- Helping supervisors make needed safety changes and improvements;
- Identifying and communicating new safety and health requirements;
- Compiling and sharing injury and illness data;
- Tracking progress on safety and health projects and concerns; and
- Working with employees to optimize safe work practices.
Step 7: Conduct Orientation and Training for All Employees
Develop a written safety and health training plan with specific objectives and instruction procedures. The plan should include a safety and health policy statement, spell out employee responsibilities, and cover required OSHA training topics like recordkeeping, hazard communication, bloodborne pathogens (if applicable), and safe work practices.
Safety Committees: Proven Strategies for for Long-Term Success
Participate in this interactive webinar on October 15 and learn the key parts of an effective and comprehensive safety committee, including federal and state OSHA requirements. Register now!
Step 8: Put Safe Work Practices in Writing
You know what you expect from employees, but publishing safe work practices clarifies your understanding, and theirs, relative to safe work practices, consequences, etc. Identify, document, and share general and job-specific safe practices with all employees. Ask them to sign a statement indicating that they have read and intend to comply with the rules and practices, and that they understand what happens if they don’t.
Step 9: Create a Written Safety and Health Policy
A written policy signed by your top leader expresses the organization’s values and commitment to workplace safety and health. It sets the tone for a meaningful program and can help ensure that safety is not a stand-alone activity, but it is integrated into the operation in the same way that quality, productivity, human resources, and other essential business goals are integrated. The policy should be introduced during new hire orientation and reviewed with all employees at least annually.
Step 10: Sharpen Recordkeeping and Data Analysis
Use audits, surveys, and records review to assess the success of your program and identify areas where improvement is needed. Good records are an essential element of a successful safety and health management system. They help you understand where, why, when, and to whom accidents occur. And they let you benchmark progress against other departments, divisions, or even competitors.
You can also use methods like employee perception surveys, suggestion programs, and one-on-one safety reviews to gain insight into how your processes are working.