The idea of safety in the workplace is like Christmas or babies – no one will ever say anything bad about it. But the reality is that too many businesses only pay lip service to the idea of safety and don’t really commit to ensuring their employees’ health and well being at work, according to Ken Brown, president, Regulatory Solutions, Dallas.
“If you’re going to have a safety program that truly works then you need to make sure you truly have a safety program instead of just writing a document or manual that sits on a shelf,” Brown told attendees of the Christmas Décor national franchise conference. “The companies that have the best safety programs are the companies who make safety a real company value.”
Unfortunately, many companies offering a range of services don’t give sufficient attention to their safety programs until after an accident occurs and an employee gets injured, Brown observed, adding that companies can benefit from creating a safety program by boosting employee morale while lowering insurance costs. So he shared his keys for creating a successful safety program:
“For starters, a company needs to have a culture that values safety, and that can only come from the management and work its way down,” noted Brown. “Safety needs to be part of an employee’s function and not just an issue that gets talked about.”
Any program that is put in place is doomed to fail if people aren’t held accountable for adhering to the policies. “A lot of people think being safety requires extra work, so they’ll cut corners,” warned Brown. “That’s why you have to have a tight accountability system. He recommended a four-step disciplinary process that includes a verbal warning, then a written warning, followed by a work suspension and, lastly, termination from the company. “And the policy has to be enforced consistently so that even if your best foreman violates it he gets punished,” Brown added. “The rest of the employees see what you do, and if you let someone slide when they violate the policy then you’ll never get everyone else to follow it.”
Lastly, once companies commit to their safety program, then they must ensure it is managed. “A safety program has a change as a company grows,” Brown explained. “Safety programs are different for companies with 50 employees than they are for companies with 10 employees.”
The author is editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.