BASIC ELEMENTS OF SAFETY PROGRAM

Workplace safety has historically been an overlooked aspect of company business plans.
However, organizations have begun to realize how important employee safety and loss control
are to the bottom line. Sustainable safety management can be a complex endeavor for any
company, 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, this is the six key
elements of any effective safety program.

1. Hazard Assessment and Correction

These inspections or 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, based on a determination of its severity and
likelihood of causing an incident.

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
surprise incidents.

2. Training and Education

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 ensuring 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, including new-hire orientations, instructor-led
group training, computer-based training, and toolbox talks. The most effective training
programs use several delivery methods to ensure effectiveness, efficiency, and retention.

Proper safety training should include:

 Hazard recognition and communication

 Company safety protocols
 Acceptable and restricted behaviors
 Reporting
 Proper PPE
 Control measures
 Job-specific training
3. Established Policies and 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 standards and expectations should be enforced through rewards and 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.

4. Accident Investigation

Unfortunately, no matter how hard a company tries to prevent workplace injuries, accidents
can happen. How companies respond to these events, however, 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.

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 the incident from reoccurring.

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. Review relevant safety data at regular intervals,
ask pertinent questions of each analytic, and seek honest feedback.

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 and corrective action data, can help predict concerns before
they manifest problems that lead to incidents.

6. Executive 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.

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.