Photo by Umit Yildirim on Unsplash
Is your site plagued with safety performance challenges?
If so, the causes may lie in certain safety areas that need more
emphasis within the overall program.
There are many “low-hanging fruit” items in a safety management program
that can prevent businesses from achieving positive outcomes.
Injury prevention, hazard communication, safe driving, emergency
preparedness, and safety inspections are just a few.
Keep reading for some simple tips to increase your safety management
program’s effectiveness in these areas.
Injury Prevention
More
effective injury prevention efforts can quickly impact safety performance in a
very visible, positive way.
Think
about it . . . company image, profit, and morale should all see improvement
when fewer injuries happen within the operations.
Good
injury prevention can be broken into 2 distinct parts:
·
Identifying a hazard exists - Recognition
· Implementing
actions to mitigate the hazard - Control
Let’s take
a look at the following story as an example of good injury prevention.
Laura
enters the warehouse for her shift and notices a shipment of widgets has been
delivered overnight. The box’s size is deceiving
because the contents weigh more than 150 pounds. Laura readily realizes this is more than she
can safely lift alone, as the weight appears on the shipment label. As such, she quickly retrieves a dolly to safely
move the box.
What if
Laura had not recognized the box’s weight or chose to not use the dolly to
control the risk from lifting the box?
Her
potential for a back injury would have been greatly increased.
As such,
consistent reinforcement of hazard recognition and control for
injury prevention with employees can go a long way toward better safety performance.
Point your
attention first to protecting
the hands, safeguarding the eyes, and preserving
the back, as these are common body parts injured while on the job.
Hazard Communication
Hazard
communication (HazCom) continues to be a top-cited violation by the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
So, it
definitely should make the cut on any business’s “low-hanging fruit” safety
item list.
To improve
HazCom efforts within your organization’s safety management program, make sure
you follow the tips below:
·
Have an up-to-date, written HazCom
program.
· Ensure
HazCom training includes the written program’s contents, safety data sheets
(SDS), labeling, chemical hazards, and the HazCom standard’s requirements.
· Maintain
ready work area access to SDS for employees.
· Keep
your chemical inventory information up to date.
· Include
HazCom in your normal inspection procedures.
We will visit inspections again in just a bit.
Safe Driving
Driving is still by far the riskiest act the average adult performs regularly.
It is second nature to most individuals, so the potential for
inattention while driving is high.
Many workers have job duties that also require they drive vehicles
while on company time.
So, a safety management focus on safe driving will benefit workers both
at and away from work.
So, what groundwork should you lay for effective safe driving
awareness?
·
Make sure your
company facilitates periodic defensive driving for employees.
·
Institute
self-reporting for employee vehicle accidents & tickets while away from
work.
· Periodically perform driving record checks for those
employees who drive on company time to instill accountability.
· Ensure internal company procedures include information
on distracted driving and safety rules while driving.
· Include safe driving as a topic in training
reinforcement meetings and conversations.
Emergency Preparedness
Emergencies often bring with them heightened feelings of fear and
anxiety.
As such, people do not always act as desired in the face of these
situations.
When coupled with a lacking emergency preparedness program, it can
spell disaster.
Check out some items below to support a strong emergency preparedness
program.
·
Perform a
vulnerability assessment to identify the events that should be included in the
site’s emergency preparations.
· Ensure all employees have access to the emergency
action plan and receive proper training.
· Include all emergency contact information next to
every landline phone.
· Perform practice drills as part of the program.
· Have persons trained in basic first aid/CPR in
attendance on each shift.
· Use signs to remind employees of emergency procedures
and designated shelter areas.
· Keep emergency equipment well stocked and in good
working condition.
Safety Inspections
Last but not least, safety inspections with proper corrective action
can breathe new life into just about any safety management program.
Facilities cannot fix unknown issues, which means theses items often
turn into problems over time.
Safety inspections provide the means to find issues before they
escalate.
Thus, potential pain points can be resolved before causing larger
troubles.
So, how can you make safety inspections work for your site?
·
Develop standard inspection
templates for ease of use by inspectors.
· Integrate shorter spot walkthrough inspections into
the program and perform these frequently.
· Conduct longer inspections on a regular basis.
· Collect inspection findings and implement any needed
corrective actions as soon as feasible.
· Rotate inspectors regularly; fresh eyes can make all
the difference in the potential issues spotted.
· Share inspection findings and corrective actions with
employees to promote additional safety engagement.
Closing Words
Low-performing safety programs often face many challenges.
Yet, the journey to better safety performance begins with the first
step.
One of the “low-hanging fruit” identified here could well be the
perfect initial obstacle for your site to tackle.
Don’t let the ineffectiveness of your safety management program linger.
It simply is not good business to do so.
