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How to Motivate Your Employees to Follow Your Safety Programs

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Among the most common concerns of safety professionals today is the best way to keep employees motivated when it comes to safety. Even when you understand the importance of safety, it can be difficult to encourage employees to get on board with your safety efforts. If you are still seeing a lack of buy-in from employees on your safety program, it may be time to re-evaluate your approach. Take a look at the following best practices for ideas on how to motivate your employees to become more committed and enthusiastic about your safety practices.

 

Include Safety as an Important Element in Your Culture

From the moment prospective candidates arrive for an interview, it should be crystal clear that safety is a core value in your organization. You can do this by including safety training and reminders in the onboarding process. It takes more than just teaching employees about safety in their early days in your organization to keep them committed, however. Make a point of reminding your employees about the importance of safety by introducing a safety topic on a daily basis. This will keep safety at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

 

Engage Employees with a Leadership-Down Approach

It can often be difficult for employees to remain motivated to follow safety programs when they do not see buy-in from their leadership. To avoid this problem, make sure your leadership team is also committed to setting a positive example for everyone. Not only should leaders be held accountable for following the same practices expected of their employees, but it’s also a good idea for leaders to set aside time to encourage feedback from employees.

 

Use Positive Reinforcement

When it comes to encouraging employees to follow safety programs, positive reinforcement can go a long way. With this strategy, you are encouraging employees to repeat desired behavior by offering positive consequences for said behavior. Studies have shown that employee satisfaction tends to rise when employees feel as though they are appreciated by management and actually making a difference. Consider this for a moment. If employees feel as though following safety protocols makes no difference whatsoever, are they likely to follow those protocols? By comparison, when employees understand that following safety practices makes a significant difference in keeping everyone safe and that their actions are appreciated by management, they will be much more likely to follow safety programs.

 

With that said, it’s also important to ensure that safety mishaps are not ignored. Unfortunately, there is sometimes a tendency to simply sweep minor mishaps under the rug. This can be detrimental when you are trying to encourage employee buy-in to a safety program. It is essential for organizational leadership to be diligent when it comes to addressing safety issues. These issues should be addressed as opportunities for learning on everyone’s part.

 

Encourage Employees to Feel Ownership of Safety Programs

Employees are naturally more likely to be motivated and committed to safety programs when they play a role in those programs. This can be accomplished by reminding staff that their commitment to safety practices makes a difference in terms of not only themselves but also their co-workers and the workplace as a whole. Providing employees with a variety of avenues for offering feedback on their safety program is another great way to encourage buy-in and motivation. Organizations can also give safety incentives by allowing employees to serve on problem-solving committees and even conduct safety evaluations.

 

Actually Put Employee Feedback to Work When Assessing Safety Programs

When requesting employees to give feedback on safety issues, it’s crucial that you use that information to reassess the effectiveness of your program. After all, front-line employees can often give valuable information that can help your organization to improve safety practices. Furthermore, employees need to see that their feedback and opinions matter. Make a point to act on feedback in a timely manner and let employees know that their participation is appreciated.

 

Ultimately, employees must be committed and motivated for your organization’s safety program to work. By ensuring new employees know from the beginning that safety is a priority at your organizational culture, using positive reinforcement to let employees know they are appreciated, and listening to their ideas, you will be able to make your workplace more compliant and safer for everyone.

What Could Go Wrong, Preventing Workplace Hazards

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With supporting safe work environments being our mission, it helps to start with some statistics to help establish how we can best succeed.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports there were approximately 2.9 million nonfatal work-place injuries and illnesses reported by private industry employers in 2016.  That translates to a rate of 2.9 cases per 100 full time equivalent workers.

The industry with the highest number of reported injuries remains manufacturing where nearly 20% of all days away from work cases, DAFW, were described as falls, slips or trips.

It always surprises me to see falls, slips and trips as the single largest category of DAFW.  I picture some dangerous machine or other ominous physical third party playing the lead role in injuries, not something of my own doing without any help required.

As I put these thoughts into writing, it sounds a little harsh.  Aren’t there physical hazards in play to allow me to fall, slip or trip?  Well it depends on how you look at it which is the segue to my point.

The First Rule of Safety – Know Your Job

Under OSHA’s General Duty Clause, Sec 5(b), we are instructed to “comply with occupational safety and health standards” and all OSHA regulations that apply to our “own actions and conduct.”

Employers are responsible for providing a workplace “free from recognized hazards” under OSHA rules; but, individuals must own their actions and conduct at all times.  So let’s consider the importance of Knowing Your Job in preventing workplace hazards.

Knowing Your Job includes a broad array of factors including but not limited to

  • • Materials and Equipment
  • • Procedures
  • • Possible Hazards
  • • Unexpected Hazards

Being an expert in our own safety demands that we put significant energy into each of these categories to assure we work safe to the extent that we are able.  Survey each bullet category from the perspective of “Knowing Your Job.”

Materials and Equipment

Common examples under Materials and Equipment include MSDS and the handling of chemicals or proper operation of machinery.  An employer can provide excellent MSDS tools and solid training on proper mechanical operation, but we must commit ourselves to study, understand and apply the available information and training.

We need to accept our responsibility as professionals to seek out and know the materials in our work environment and how to safely operate / maintain our equipment.

Procedures

It is critical to learn from the experience of those who’ve gone before us.  Procedures are the product of that experience put into a communication for our benefit which includes our safety.  If we are not familiar with proper procedures or we disregard the procedure for the sake of time or other priority, we are accepting great risk and increasing the likelihood of unsafe conditions and injury.

“Ignorance of the law is no excuse” and neither is ignorance of proper procedures.  Find them, read them and ask questions where you are unclear.

Possible Hazards

Some hazards are predictable.  Pinch points, electrocution, inhalation, fire, confined space, slip, fall, tripping.  I put the last three last on purpose to show how the data reflects we are prioritizing slip, fall and trip hazards.

Most manufacturing environment procedures require inspection of work areas prior to starting work.  Recall that under the OSHA General Duty Clause we are responsible for our own actions and conduct.  What are we seeing in our pre-work inspections where slip, trip and fall are concerned?

Accidents happen but preventable accidents must be prevented and slip, trip and fall incidents can often be prevented.

We need to raise awareness regarding the frequency of slip, trip, fall events and the injuries they cause.  If you’re a manager, lead by implementing slip, trip, fall hazards recognition and mitigation.  Remove those hazards where possible and teach skills to minimize the risk where you have minimized the presence of the hazard.  As employees we need to look for slip, trip, fall hazards before we start work.  We can’t fall into complacency with the greatest cause of days away from work.

Unexpected Hazards

Potential dangers that arise on the job, often the result of changing conditions, can cause unsafe conditions.  The catch all description is “anything that doesn’t seem right.”  We need to be alert and sensitive to things that don’t seem right and take action to confirm, and if necessary, correct.  Many slip, trip, fall hazards are the result of unexpected hazards.  A liquid spill, tools on the ground, loose cords, all can result in a slip or trip.

Be vigilant with work area inspections.   Hold yourself accountable for housekeeping and don’t be afraid to hold other accountable.  Think about your technique when climbing or descending and avoid rushing when carrying things.

Know Your Job – Preventing Workplace Hazards

Knowing your job includes knowing the hazards at all times.  To the extent that it depends on you, know the risks and be pro-active in mitigating those risks.  Your diligence and commitment are your greatest tools.

4 Reasons for Accident Prevention on Your Jobsite

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accident prevention

Safety is what we do. We work to match companies to safety professionals after getting to know the unique needs of our clients.

In our experience it’s been proven that employing high quality safety professionals is the best accident prevention. Besides the tragic outcome of an injury, illness, or even death, accidents have a huge impact on your business. It is in your best interest to make sure that the people working for you are well-trained and experienced so that an accident doesn’t happen on your watch.

Why? Here’s four reasons. 

  1. Protect life and health. The most obvious reason is that preventing destruction of life and health is our primary concern as safety specialists. This is a moral obligation for the health and well-being of our employees. In fact, we believe that failing to take precautions to predict accidents and occupational injuries or illnesses makes management morally responsible for those accidents. If a potential problem or threat exists, and no action steps are taken to prevent an accident, the outcome will fall on you.
  2. Prevent downtime. The second reason for preventing accidents is because accidents and occupational illnesses limit efficiency and productivity because of downtime. This is an indirect cost from an accident, but a very costly one. Replacement labor can cost your company time and resources, along with possible sick pay, repairing damaged equipment, or even OSHA fines.
  3. Protect your reputation. The third reason for preventing accidents is because accidents and occupational illnesses can produce far-reaching social harm to your reputation. Word gets around when accidents happen and it always paints a negative picture of a company in the public eye. We’ve always said that your clients will only think as much of you as they think of your safety personnel. Sending unprepared employees to a job will hurt your reputation because you will be sending them the wrong message about your company. With the right safety staff, you can send a message that says “We take safety and the lives our employees seriously! We do our best in everything.”
  4. Prevent OSHA violations. The fourth reason for preventing accidents is because state and federal legislation mandates management responsibility to provide a safe workplace, so his is a legal requirement. OSHA violations could cost you thousands of dollars a day. Even the most unintentional violation can cause serious harm to your company.

We believe having well-trained, high quality, experienced safety professionals on a job site is the best way to go for accident prevention. The lives of your employees, your reputation, and your bottom line are all at stake, but they will be in good hands with ResponsAble safety professionals on site. Give us a call at 225-753-1909 to talk with us about your upcoming projects.

Employers: 7 Ways to Prevent Job Site Falls

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Falls are among the most common injuries that can occur on job sites. It is the employer’s responsibility to minimize the risk of workers falling by setting the job site up for success and safety.

Falling is of course an accident, however, there are preventative measures for employers to take in order to protect employees from the possibility of experiencing a harmful fall. Most falls result in a bad injury, and unfortunately in some cases, death.

There are many things that can cause a fall such as steep heights, unstable foundations, wet work sites, and improper knowledge of machinery.

7 Things Every Employer Can Do for Fall Prevention

  1. Train each and every employee to use equipment safely.
  2. Guard all floor holes that poses a threat for workers to fall into.
  3. Provide high quality personal protective equipment for employees.
  4. Make sure to keep your job site areas clean and dry.
  5. Set up guard rails for every open-sided platform.
  6. Ensure workers have the correct equipment and machinery for the job they’re working on (i.e. ladders, scaffolds).
  7. Plan ahead by determining the best way to get the job done, putting together a budget and ensuring you have all you need to complete the job safely.

As an employer, you are required to ensure a safe and secure work area for your employees. Many things, if not handled properly, can go wrong on a job site. However, you minimize the worry when you prepare and plan for success. Reduce the risk of falls by implementing these 7 steps before beginning work on a project.