How To Run A Successful Safety Program

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The safety director used that cliché countless times in workshops. It now sounded like the smartest advice in the world as he read about the accident at his competitor's manufacturing plant.

It was hard to believe that competitor would have to spend at least $10 million to sort out a problem that probably could have been avoided for a percentage of that amount.

The safety director wasn't gloating. Change the names and details, and he could very well have been reading about his own company. A downsized workforce cutting corners, a growing number of minor accidents - all were issues his own plant had experienced in the past six months, and all were indications of a serious problem with the safety culture. If his story was going to have a different ending, he knew it was time to make some changes.

Accidents happen. But they shouldn't happen on the job. Such mistakes not only cost your business money but also can cost lives. The proper use of safety incentive programs can reduce or eliminate the circumstances that cause such mishaps.

A well-organized program rewards employees for proactive behavior and places an emphasis on preventive safety. This in turn leads to a decrease in accidents and lost-time injuries. Long-term change comes from improving processes as well as attitudes about safety. An incentive program can help develop an enduring safety culture within the company. Ultimately, emphasizing workplace safety is an emphasis on quality of life.

Safety programs can also save money, thereby improving a company's bottom line. Consider that an organization with $100,000 of costs related to workplace injuries will have to produce an additional $2 million in revenue just to cover this expense, assuming a 5% profit margin.

But by implementing safety incentive programs, a company can reduce accidents, which will result in a reduction of workers' compensation premiums, legal suits, equipment damage and repair, medical fees, insurance and administrative expenses. Plus, you don't lose experienced employees to lost-time injuries, so there's no need to train temporary workers.

Effective safety incentive programs require careful planning. This step-by-step booklet outlines principles and methods for running a successful safety program. You'll learn techniques to determine safety goals, design a comprehensive plan, create a budget, promote your incentive and evaluate your program's effectiveness.


DEFINE GOALS

Start by making a list of your major safety concerns. Ask for assistance from foremen, supervisors, department heads, anyone who is well-informed regarding safety issues in their area. If possible, speak to some of the workers. Frequently a brief, anonymous survey of the rank-and-file will provide better input for your program than meetings with management would.

Check the previous year's accident and injury reports, too. These will provide a clear picture of the work environment, specifically where and how accidents most frequently occur.

As a final step, conduct a personal inspection of the entire workplace. Here is where you will notice the hazards possibly overlooked by people who work in those areas every day.

Once you've targeted your safety goals, craft your program objectives. Remember, everything must reinforce the types of behavior you want to change or improve.

Your goals should always be:

Simple and Specific

Focus on one or two objectives and communicate those goals. Detail the desired activity, the units that will be measured, the expected performance level and behavioral change, as well as the time allotted to achieve these goals. Clarify why these objectives are important to the company overall.


Realistic

Objectives must be attainable or participants will become discouraged. Go for a continuous improvement approach, not overnight miracles. Also, unrealistic goals may create a sense of distrust between labor and management. They will be seen as an example of how out of touch management is with its workers.



Well-timed

Objectives should correspond with peak injury periods. Holding a program after the peak rush will not be as effective, nor will it be an accurate reflection of how to improve safety when it counts most.


Measurable

You have to be able to quantify actions, or participants won't know what you expect. Also, base the guidelines on behavior the employees can control. It's common to use days as a measurement, but this may not work best for your workforce. For instance, a freight company chose to measure its safety stats in hours and miles because its drivers found these quantities more representative of their work.

Acceptable

Everyone from top management to participants must support the goals. Also, workers must be assured managers will not discipline or fire them for reporting unsafe conditions, or for slowing down production. Employees need to know they will be seen as the person who helped stop an accident, not as a whistle blower.


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