Are your worksite safety policies ambiguous? This article may help you to avoid this issue.
Have you ever attempted to perform work that has a certain level of risk and found out that the safety and health management system does not have a policy reviewing the risk and corrective measures to take?
Or if a policy exists, it turns out to be vague and ambiguous.
What is ambiguity? According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, a statement can be interpreted in two or more ways. A statement, a directive, or a policy that has a certain level of uncertainty.
What does ambiguity look like in the work environment?
Some examples:
Stay Safe!
What does “stay safe” imply? Is it vague, or does the phrase give the workers a solid foundation from which to work? Management, supervisors, and workers may not have a solid foundation for evaluating the risk associated with their tasks. So, it is easy to simply wash your hands of the responsibility of using proven risk assessment processes to identify and evaluate risk. The risk assessment process comes with a well-trained and educated safety team. People who understand the risk mitigation process.
Until that part of the operation is staffed, well stay safe.
Safety First Banners and Posters!
Safety is important. Do not get me wrong. But should it continually be battling with production, quality, and cost? Let us face it, it is the wrong policy.
It is a historically insincere slogan that affects supervisors and workers together. It is unjustifiable to think that front-line supervisors will place safety above all else on an hour-to-hour and day-to-day basis.
Safety is a value, not a priority. It should be treated as equal in importance to quality, quantity (production), and cost.
Be your brother’s keeper!
Ever heard this motto? The phrase “be your brother’s keeper” means to show some concern and take responsibility for others’ safety and well-being. But does it work, and if it does, how is it measured?
When the goal is to create a culture of safety, how do you measure “be your brother’s keeper”? This very subjective approach does not effectively address at-risk behaviors. Behaviors are unique and can be measured. An effective safety and health management system should have processes in place to achieve a culture of safety by responding to at-risk behaviors and changing those behaviors into acceptable work behaviors.
Just casually throwing out a statement or motto in a safety training session and expecting all workers to understand and exercise this approach is not acceptable.
Workers and supervisors must be educated and trained to identify and recognize hazardous situations and have the expectation and authorization to take prompt corrective actions to eliminate them. Programs that include safe work policies and procedures are critical to achieving an incident-free worksite.
Safety is common sense!
To begin, common sense is not commonplace. A weak commitment from upper management is evident when a phrase like this one is used to advertise a commitment to a safe and healthy workplace.
Here is a list of “common sense safety statements”:
- I have been doing this job this way forever, and I have never gotten hurt.
- Seem like a clever idea at the time.
- I was in a hurry.
- Make sure you wear proper PPE.
- Now, tie off when you get up there.
- Be aware of your surroundings.
- It was only going to take a minute to complete.
- The safety data sheets are in the three-ring notebook.
Common sense safety was adequately addressed in the following article from The American Equity Underwriters, Inc. (Making Common Sense of Workplace Safety (amequity.com). Here is an excerpt:
“Two concepts common to work operations which are typically used for different purposes and reasons are safety and common sense. While unrelated, these concepts sometimes come crashing together after an occurrence, near miss, incident, or accident. The question of why an employee was not working safely is often answered with a comment on the employee’s ability to use common sense when performing their work.”
“Common sense is the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a safe way. We acquire this practical knowledge and judgment through our own life experiences as well as others,’ making common sense truly a shared experience. For example, while growing up, we learn not to grab onto a hot stove, either by having a negative experience and experiencing the pain ourselves or by being told by someone else that it will burn.”
The article continues:
“It is often presumed we all possess the same level of common sense. This is where the issue comes into work operations when it is said that an employee should use common sense when working. That employee’s life experiences are unique to him/her. What if that employee never grabbed that hot stove, never walked out close to an open edge, or never worked around crane operations and knew to look up? If not, did someone else share their experiences with that employee to create “common sense”?”
For information on developing an effective safety and health management system, we must avoid subjective mottos and statements. Employers need a structured and measured approach to workplace safety.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends the following guidance on their website: Safety Management – A safe workplace is sound business | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov).
“The main goal of safety and health programs is to prevent workplace injuries, illnesses, and deaths, as well as the suffering and financial hardship these events can cause for workers, their families, and employers.”
“If you focus on achieving goals, monitoring performance, and evaluating outcomes, your workplace can progress along the path to higher levels of safety and health achievement.”
“Employers will find that implementing these recommended practices also brings other benefits. Safety and health programs help businesses:”
- Prevent workplace injuries and illnesses.
- Improve compliance with laws and regulations.
- Reduce costs, including significant reductions in workers’ compensation premiums.
- Engage workers.
- Enhance their social responsibility goals.
- Increase productivity and enhance overall business operations.
Drop the vague and ambiguous safety statements and focus on objectives that will promote an effective safety and health system.