The best safety programs begin with a management team dedicated and committed to creating a culture of safety. Management must advocate employee involvement and commit to creating zero tolerance for injuries. With that in mind, here is a 10 steps overview for creating a safety program.
1. Understand the implications of new laws on your organizations. Because of recent changes in enforcement and the law, employers may want to seek counsel and assistance from vendors or consultants.
2. Conduct an initial assessment and have employees identify areas where accidents commonly occur and why.
3. Customize safety plans to the site, facility, buildings, equipment, processes and staff. Make each member of the organization personally accountable and resposible.
4. Develop written programs for all employees including a blood-borne pathogens control plan, emergency action plan, hazard communication plan, lock-out/tag-out plan and a personal protective equipment plan, as per OSHA requirements. OSHA also requires other written programs, such as respiratory protection or hearing conservation plan, if certain hazards exist.
5. Train, train and train again. Training is the weak link for many employers. Training can help employees recognize and prevent accidents.
6. Create personalized incentives that motivate employees to make changes in their safety routines. Make sure safety programs are built into each employee's daily responsibilities and use performance-based requirements to encourage adoption.
7. Make safety simple. Guidelines should be easy to understand and make sense to all levels of employees.
8. Develop a clear system for reporting incidents. Make the system easy to use and readily available.
9. Provide a safety hotline so that site personnel can submit safety-related questions by telephone or email and receive a prompt response from a qualified safety professional.
10. Involve employees at every level of program development amd implementation. The best safety programs are collaborative and inclusive. Employees need to believe they have a stake not only in program development, but in the results achieved.
By: Rick Staci
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