Six Steps to a Safer Workplace

The risk management firm PMA Companies has recently released a report entitled Six Steps to a Safer Workforce: Building Accountability as an Essential Element for Injury Prevention in the Healthcare Industry.

The document urges employers to make improvements in safety policies and practices, including making managers and employees accountable for safety performance. The report outlines six basic steps for achieving a safer workforce.

Although the report was written for the healthcare industry, these six steps apply equally well to any industry and any workplace.

1. Create an environment of safety that begins with top management and focuses on actions.

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2. Demonstrate your commitment.Consider a zero-tolerance policy for violations and a strong safety program led by mid-level supervisors. Also create a system of accountability for safety that includes:

• Strong policy
• Documentation
• Thorough training and communication
• Follow through with safety rules

The PMA report defines accountability as “an activity, practice, or issue for which a party can legitimately be held responsible and called on to justify or change.” Employees may be accountable for themselves, their peers, or subordinates.

The report goes on to say: “In an ideal workplace environment, each party can and should hold each other party accountable. Accountability is an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility that managers should embrace. It goes beyond performing the tasks assigned to given roles, and involves ensuring that everyone is also performing those roles safely. In a workplace with high safety accountability, employees and managers are more vigilant in seeking opportunities to improve processes in order to increase safety.”

3. Focus on unit leaders. Your program should include buy-in and participation by mid-level managers and supervisors, who are largely responsible maintaining a culture of safety in the workplace. Address not only unsafe employee behavior but also the consequences of failure to enforce policies on the part of managers and supervisors.

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4. Give managers authority to take actions to improve safety, whether that involves using safer materials or equipment or changing work practices or schedules.

5. Measure safety. Use reliable loss trend data to set unit-based safety goals.

6. Encourage safety-minded decisions. When employees are trained to identify the safest solution and are held accountable for doing so, good, safe decision making becomes part of the regular performance of tasks.

The report concludes by saying: “The benefits of greater employee safety can be profound. Studies show that employee satisfaction increases and employee turnover decreases when organizations are committed to providing a safe work environment.”

A safety program that includes top-management commitment as well as accountability for safety at every level in the organization, says the report, will help you:

• Optimize productivity
• Keep employees safe and healthy
• Reduce costs

Tomorrow, we’ll talk more about creating a safer workplace with a quick review of an essential tool for identifying and correcting workplace hazards.

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