Evaluating Your Safety Program

It’s “back to school” time!  What determines the grade level a student will enter?  Will the student take basic math or advanced algebra?  The answer lies in the fact that students have been evaluated.  School officials know in what direction to send a young person, based on where they are right now academically.

The same is true of your business.  How do you know how much product to manufacture?  How do you know how many employees to hire?  How do you know the production level you need in order to support your profit margin?  That’s right…you have evaluated!

But what about your safety program?  When is the last time you evaluated it and made necessary adjustments to make sure it is performing at peak capacity?  Take the quiz below to see if your safety program “makes the grade.” 

SAFETY PROGRAM EVALUATION

Question
Yes No 1. Are owners and upper management 100% sold on a strong safety culture?  (Do they personally lead meetings and emphasize safety?)
Yes No 2. Are all employees (management, supervisors, line employees) involved in developing and managing the safety program?
Yes No 3. Is there a written safety program in place, customized to your company’s operations?
Yes No 4. Do you conduct and document all training, inspections and safety meetings?
Yes No 5. Are workers fully trained before being expected to perform their job tasks?
Give yourself 20 points for each “Yes” answer and 0 for each “No” answer.

How did you do?  If your child brought home a report card with the same score, would you be satisfied with their work?  Hopefully your company passed the test.  However, if there is still work to be done, we’ve got good news!  There are plenty of easy-to-use resources available on our Safety Resources and Safety Webinar pages, or by calling the CBR Risk Team at 602-200-8500 x2012.

Commitment of Owners and Upper Management
For any safety program to be truly successful, owners and upper management must be 100% committed.  By that, I don’t mean that they “think it is important.”  I mean they must be actively involved in the safety program.  Workers need to hear owners and managers talk about the importance of their safety.  One idea that works well is to have owners or managers mention the importance of safety at every meeting, even if it is not a safety meeting.  Also, when owners and managers find workers doing something correctly, they should provide positive reinforcement.  Verbal “attaboys” and occasional small rewards (such as gift cards to Starbucks or McDonalds) go a long way in communicating that safety is indeed a value.

Involvement of Employees in the Safety Program
What do your kids value most…items that you pay for and give them, or items in which they have invested their own time and money?  By nature, we value things in which we have a degree of ownership.

The same is true of your safety program.  Give workers a degree of ownership!  Allow workers to have direct input into customized safety procedures that fit your operations.  Develop a safety committee made up of upper management, supervisors and line workers and allow them to develop procedures.  You may also give line workers responsibility to lead safety meetings.

The key thing is to give them “ownership.”  They will value safety much more than if they have a say.

Written Safety Programs
The bottom line is that, if you do not have a written safety program specific to your operations, you do not have a safety program!  Not only is a written safety program a “roadmap” to safety for your company, but it also provides legal protection for owners and supervisors.

Do you realize that owners and supervisors may be found legally liable for injuries and/or damage to others and their property if negligence is found?  If accused of negligence, you will have to provide proof to the contrary in order to avoid potentially excessive fines and/or prison time.  How will you do that?  Documentation is the key, and if you have no written safety program, you have no foundation upon which to build a case that you were not negligent.

By the way, keeping your safety program up-to-date is a fantastic modified duty assignment!  If you have a worker on light duty, assign him/her to work on evaluating the written safety program and coming up with ideas to improve procedures.

Essential Documentation
The written safety program is the key document, but there are others.  CBR has written about 30 specific safety procedures (such as Heavy Equipment Operation, Lockout-Tagout and Hazard Communication) that may be customized to your specific operations.  You may download them from our Safety Resources page in Word format, then customize them.

However, in order to develop a truly successful safety program, other things must be documented as well.  That might include designation of Competent Persons, Safety Meeting attendance and various inspections, among other things.  CBR provides these forms and many others.  Simply click on “Checklists/Forms” on our Safety Resources page.

(If you do not know your userid and password, please contact the CBR Risk Team at 602-200-8500 x2012.)

Adequate Training of Employees
There is specific training mandated by OSHA for certain job tasks.  For example, if you conduct work (on ladders, scaffolds or otherwise) at least 6 feet off the ground, you must have fall protection training and a Competent Person.  Heavy equipment operators must undergo re-certification every 3 years.  Those trained in CPR and First Aid must re-certify every 2 years.  This is all important training required by OSHA.

Likewise, all employees should be properly trained to perform their job task.  All too often we get reports of injuries to employees who have been on the job only a matter of days (or less) and were injured due to lack of training.  Every supervisor/foreman should be held accountable to fully train all workers assigned to him/her.

Available Resources
The task of developing and maintaining a safety program might seem daunting.  However, once broken down into phases, you will find that safety programs are not difficult at all!  CBR provides many resources, and the Risk Team is always available to assist in developing and maintaining safety programs for our clients.

Take a few minutes to view 6 Keys to a Successful Safety Program, then utilize the other resources on our Safety Resources page.  If you still need assistance, please contact us.  We’re here to help!

It’s “back to school” time!  What determines the grade level a student will enter?  Will the student take basic math or advanced algebra?  The answer lies in the fact that students have been evaluated.  School officials know in what direction to send a young person, based on where they are right now academically. 

The same is true of your business.  How do you know how much product to manufacture?  How do you know how many employees to hire?  How do you know the production level you need in order to support your profit margin?  That’s right…you have evaluated!

But what about your safety program?  When is the last time you evaluated it and made necessary adjustments to make sure it is performing at peak capacity?  Take the quiz below to see if your safety program “makes the grade.” 

SAFETY PROGRAM EVALUATION

Question
Yes No 1. Are owners and upper management 100% sold on a strong safety culture?  (Do they personally lead meetings and emphasize safety?)
Yes No 2. Are all employees (management, supervisors, line employees) involved in developing and managing the safety program?
Yes No 3. Is there a written safety program in place, customized to your company’s operations?
Yes No 4. Do you conduct and document all training, inspections and safety meetings?
Yes No 5. Are workers fully trained before being expected to perform their job tasks?
Give yourself 20 points for each “Yes” answer and 0 for each “No” answer.

How did you do?  If your child brought home a report card with the same score, would you be satisfied with their work?  Hopefully your company passed the test.  However, if there is still work to be done, we’ve got good news!  There are plenty of easy-to-use resources available on our Safety Resources and Safety Webinar pages, or by calling the CBR Risk Team at 602-200-8500 x2012.

Commitment of Owners and Upper Management
For any safety program to be truly successful, owners and upper management must be 100% committed.  By that, I don’t mean that they “think it is important.”  I mean they must be actively involved in the safety program.  Workers need to hear owners and managers talk about the importance of their safety.  One idea that works well is to have owners or managers mention the importance of safety at every meeting, even if it is not a safety meeting.  Also, when owners and managers find workers doing something correctly, they should provide positive reinforcement.  Verbal “attaboys” and occasional small rewards (such as gift cards to Starbucks or McDonalds) go a long way in communicating that safety is indeed a value.

Involvement of Employees in the Safety Program
What do your kids value most…items that you pay for and give them, or items in which they have invested their own time and money?  By nature, we value things in which we have a degree of ownership.

The same is true of your safety program.  Give workers a degree of ownership!  Allow workers to have direct input into customized safety procedures that fit your operations.  Develop a safety committee made up of upper management, supervisors and line workers and allow them to develop procedures.  You may also give line workers responsibility to lead safety meetings.

The key thing is to give them “ownership.”  They will value safety much more than if they have a say.

Written Safety Programs
The bottom line is that, if you do not have a written safety program specific to your operations, you do not have a safety program!  Not only is a written safety program a “roadmap” to safety for your company, but it also provides legal protection for owners and supervisors.

Do you realize that owners and supervisors may be found legally liable for injuries and/or damage to others and their property if negligence is found?  If accused of negligence, you will have to provide proof to the contrary in order to avoid potentially excessive fines and/or prison time.  How will you do that?  Documentation is the key, and if you have no written safety program, you have no foundation upon which to build a case that you were not negligent.

By the way, keeping your safety program up-to-date is a fantastic modified duty assignment!  If you have a worker on light duty, assign him/her to work on evaluating the written safety program and coming up with ideas to improve procedures.

Essential Documentation
The written safety program is the key document, but there are others.  CBR has written about 30 specific safety procedures (such as Heavy Equipment Operation, Lockout-Tagout and Hazard Communication) that may be customized to your specific operations.  You may download them from our Safety Resources page in Word format, then customize them.

However, in order to develop a truly successful safety program, other things must be documented as well.  That might include designation of Competent Persons, Safety Meeting attendance and various inspections, among other things.  CBR provides these forms and many others.  Simply click on “Checklists/Forms” on our Safety Resources page.

(If you do not know your userid and password, please contact the CBR Risk Team at 602-200-8500 x2012.)

Adequate Training of Employees
There is specific training mandated by OSHA for certain job tasks.  For example, if you conduct work (on ladders, scaffolds or otherwise) at least 6 feet off the ground, you must have fall protection training and a Competent Person.  Heavy equipment operators must undergo re-certification every 3 years.  Those trained in CPR and First Aid must re-certify every 2 years.  This is all important training required by OSHA.

Likewise, all employees should be properly trained to perform their job task.  All too often we get reports of injuries to employees who have been on the job only a matter of days (or less) and were injured due to lack of training.  Every supervisor/foreman should be held accountable to fully train all workers assigned to him/her.

Available Resources
The task of developing and maintaining a safety program might seem daunting.  However, once broken down into phases, you will find that safety programs are not difficult at all!  CBR provides many resources, and the Risk Team is always available to assist in developing and maintaining safety programs for our clients.

Take a few minutes to view 6 Keys to a Successful Safety Program, then utilize the other resources on our Safety Resources page.  If you still need assistance, please contact us.  We’re here to help!