Safety Products Inc Blog

6 Key Elements of an Effective Safety Program

Safety Products Inc 2 years ago

Written by: Bart Briggs, CSP & Safety Plus, Inc Founder

Workplace safety has historically been an overlooked aspect of a company’s business

plan.  In recent years however, organizations have begun to realize how important
employee safety and loss control are to the bottom line.

But what is safety?  Is it random drug tests for employees?  Is it a hard hat and a pair of
gloves?  Is it a hard hat and a pair of gloves…when OSHA shows up for an audit?
 Sustainable safety management can be a complex endeavor for any company to tackle;
especially companies that have precise expertise in specific fields that require constant
focus.  To help companies in their efforts to create a sustainable safety program, Safety
Plus, Inc believes that there are 6 key elements of any effective safety program.

1. Hazard Assessment

Perhaps the most critical element of workplace safety and an effective safety program is
regular and honest safety audits to identify and correct workplace hazards.  Consistent
audits are the easiest way to recognize hazards, implement corrective actions, and
ultimately prevent worker injuries and their associated costs.  As the saying goes, “You can’t
expect what you won’t inspect,” and performing regular audits is the best way to prevent
costly surprises in the form of incidents.  These inspections/audits should record hazard
details, include photos, identify supervision, and assign corrective actions to specific
persons.  Lapses in areas such as housekeeping, tripping hazards, PPE use, and machine
guarding should be considered violations of a company’s normal business process and
addressed immediately upon discovery.  To prioritize the correction of more dangerous
hazards in a timely manner, assign each hazard a risk assessment level from 1 to 3, based on
a determination of its severity and likelihood of causing an incident.  Creating inspection
checklists specific to the overall worksite or based on Job Safety Analysis (JSA’s) can help
ensure that supervisors do not miss potential hazards. It is also worth noting that consistent
documentation of identification and correction of workplace hazards may prove vital for
company defenses in the event of regulatory audits or litigation.

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2. Training

Another key element of effective safety management is an established training program for
all employees.  It is undisputed that workers who are educated about their work
environment and how to safely function in their respective roles are more productive and
less likely to be injured during their work.  The most important aspect of any company
safety training program is that it properly equips and educates employees with the
information, protocols, and protections they need to perform their work safely.  There are a
variety of ways to train employees: new-hire orientations, instructor-led group training,
computer-based training, toolbox talks, etc.  The most effective training programs use
several delivery methods to ensure effectiveness, efficiency, and retention.  A good first step
is to develop a solid new-hire orientation that introduces employees to the company’s
procedures for safe behavior on the job while preparing them for more specific instruction
on the worksite.  However, a one-time new-hire training is not adequate.  All companies
should invest in sustainable and recurring training that is specific to the hazards recognized
in the above-mentioned audits/inspections and for tasks employees are expected to perform.
Proper safety training should include:

Hazard recognition and communication

Company safety protocols
Acceptable and restricted behaviors
Reporting
Proper PPE
Control measures, and
Job-specific training

3. Policies & Procedures

One of the items all employees should be trained on is company safety policies and
procedures. In order to train on these items, companies must first establish detailed safety
policies, procedures, and protocols that are written and authorized by executive
management.  These policies should be incorporated into the complete HSE process,
effectively communicated to the entire workforce, and reviewed and updated, at minimum,
on an annual basis.  These standards and expectations should be enforced through rewards
& discipline programs that do not discourage hazard or accident reporting but inspire
workers to operate in the safest manner possible through open communication and in a
culture of safe productivity.

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4. Accident Investigations

Unfortunately, no matter how hard a company tries to prevent a workplace injury, accidents
can happen. How companies respond to these events says a lot about the effectiveness of
their safety program, and the value they place on their workforce.  Beyond the regulatory
requirement to report workplace injuries, there are numerous benefits to properly
documenting incidents.  Thorough documentation of incident details allows companies to
recognize lagging indicators of incidents and address them to prevent future injuries.  The
truth is that a workplace incident is a strong indicator of a weakness in some aspect of a
safety program, whether it be in the company’s procedures, an employee’s training, or a
supervisor’s monitoring responsibilities.  Consistently recording incident details including
specifics of what happened, location, date, time, employees involved, relevant supervisors,
and corrective actions needed to prevent reoccurrence will prove beneficial for future
improvements to the entire safety program. Incident details should always be reviewed by a
team knowledgeable in the task specifics, company procedures, and workplace safety
protocols to determine what went wrong and what is to be done to prevent reoccurrence.

5. Measurement

An effective safety management program is always evolving.  Regular training, safety

meetings, job safety analysis, inspections, and accident evaluations are critical, but how does
a company keep its program relevant as it grows and changes?  The evaluation of the above
parameters is a key element in an effective and efficient safety program that aims to keep
the workplace safe in an ever-changing environment.  Review relevant safety data at regular
intervals, ask pertinent questions of each analytic, and seek honest feedback.  Ask questions
like:

How are accidents and property damage trending?  Are the metrics better this quarter?
 Are we meeting our goals?
Are more hazards being identified?  Are they the same items?  Are the same workers
identifying them? Is the same supervision responsible for that area?  Are our corrective
actions effective?
Are employee training levels acceptable?  Is critical training being completed?  Which
supervisors are lagging on training?  Which workers are lagging on training?  Is this okay
for now or must it be addressed immediately?

To answer these types of questions effectively, a set of acceptable standards must be

established. These standards need to be objective, measurable, and trackable and should
incorporate both lagging and leading indicators.  Incident data is a lagging indicator of a
program’s status that allows a company to review past events and implement new protocols
to avoid reoccurrence. Leading indicators, such as training completion records and
inspection/corrective action data, can help predict concerns before they manifest problems
that lead to incidents.  Both should be utilized in an effective safety management program.
However, these are all factors that cannot be properly evaluated if organizations are not
maintaining organized records of training, inspections, and incidents.  Measuring key safety
metrics is critical as it allows organizations to establish a baseline and improve over time.

6. Management Commitment

The previously discussed elements of an effective safety program are all useless without the
final element: management commitment to safety.  Nearly all companies claim a desire to
implement a “culture of safety,” but culture is driven from the top.  Unfortunately, the
overwhelming majority of upper management teams place a much higher value on
production than they do safety.  Ironically, production and safety are in no way mutually
exclusive goals.  All companies should recognize that unsafe work practices can ultimately
cost them a great deal.  For example, a company that is losing $75K annually due to
ineffectual workplace safety measures, must increase sales by $750K to offset these losses
(assuming they operate at a 10% net profit margin).  A safety department or program must
be more than a symbolic gesture; it must be a key component of a company’s overall
business plan.

Were these 6 key elements helpful to you?  Leave us a comment below and hit like!

Check out a few of our other great blog posts about hot topics such as workplace violence.

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Categories: Effective Safety Programs

Tags: accident investigations, hazard assessment, management commitment, measurement, policies & procedures,
training

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