Yesterday, we reviewed the first 4 steps toward world-class safety performance. Today, we present the rest.
 |
5. Be Ready for Anything
Be prepared to handle a wide-range of unexpected events effectively. Emergency plans should anticipate all possible contingencies. Make sure your plans include at least the following:
- Procedure for reporting emergencies
- Evacuation policy, procedures, route maps, etc.
- Shelter-in-place and safe refuge areas
- Contact information for key individuals inside and outside the company
- Procedures for employees to perform or shut down critical operations
- Emergency assignments and training for medical responders, evacuation wardens, etc.
- Location and procedures for use of emergency equipment such as fire extinguishers
- Assembly locations and procedures to account for all personnel
6. Use OSHA Resources
It’s true that OSHA is the enforcer. But the agency also provides a lot of valuable workplace safety and health resources free of charge. For example, OSHA has grouped its compliance assistance resources on a single webpage. You can link from there to other parts of the website and access rulemaking updates, technical documents, interpretations of standards, and a variety of electronic tools to facility compliance. You’ll also find training materials, case studies, Spanish language content, FAQs, and sample safety and health programs.
Want to take your safety program up to the next level? What safety professional doesn’t? BLR’s upcoming live webinar will teach you game-changing, innovative, and strategic approaches that will help propel your safety program forward and yield better results. Click here for details.
OSHA also offers free on-site consultation for smaller businesses. In fiscal year 2012, the consultation program conducted approximately 30,000 visits to worksites covering 1.5 million workers. Learn more.
7. Get Involved with Health and Wellness
Such programs are proven money-savers. Research points to a drop in medical costs of more than $3 for every dollar invested in wellness, and a drop in absenteeism costs of more than $2 for every $1 spent.
- Conduct a survey to identify employees’ health and wellness concerns and the types of activities they would be most likely to participate in. The
- Wellness Council of America says that most workplace health promotion programs address the “big 5”: back care and injury prevention, exercise, stress management, tobacco use, and substance abuse prevention.
- Use a health risk analysis to assess employees’ baseline health status and current concerns.
- Check with your insurance or workers’ comp provider to learn about opportunities to partner on health promotion activities.
- Save money by leveraging employee expertise as well as community resources—for example, local health-related association chapters, such as the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and healthcare providers such as hospitals, clinics, and doctors.
Join us for an in-depth webinar on February 18 about how to achieve safety excellence. Our presenter, a seasoned safety professional who has helped many companies move their safety programs to the next level, will provide participants with a detailed understanding of “Strategic Targets for Excellent Performance in Safety” (STEPS). Learn More.
Achieve World-Class Safety Performance in Your Workplace
Occasionally, a game-changer comes along that can help EHS managers take their safety programs to the next level. When game-changing, innovative, and strategic approaches come along, it’s important for EHS managers to pay close attention.
Right now, there’s one such game-changer to learn about; one that can help you propel your safety program forward and yield better results. Don’t settle for a safety program that’s drifting away from the results you and senior management have come to expect.
Join us for an in-depth webinar on February 18 about this new approach to achieving safety excellence. Our presenter, a seasoned safety professional who has helped many companies move their safety programs to the next level, will provide participants with a detailed understanding of “Strategic Targets for Excellent Performance in Safety” (STEPS).
You and your colleagues will learn:
- How STEPS, a process based on data from over 1,100 facilities, can help you develop a 3- to 5-year safety excellence business plan, and how to use it to identify, prioritize, and solve safety problems at the organizational, behavioral, conditional, and cultural levels
- Why the STEPS strategy is useful in eliminating the need to continuously introduce new consultants, programs, and approaches that create the “flavor of the month” mentality
- What causes a safety program to be ineffective
- How STEPS can help you solve safety problems and permanently and continuously improve your organization’s record
- The key components of STEPS, including evaluating the organization’s structure, problem identification, issue prioritization, action plan development, improvement metrics, and motivational and marketing strategy to ensure sustainability
- Tips on how to solicit support for STEPS from senior management, and actions to consider for pursuing the STEPS process
- How to identify and evaluate outside resources for successfully pursuing the STEPS approach
About Your Speaker
Terry Mathis is the founder and CEO of ProAct Safety, an international safety and performance excellence firm. He is known for his dynamic presentations in the fields of behavioral and cultural safety, leadership, and operational performance, and is a regular speaker at ASSE, NSC, and numerous company and industry conferences. He has been a frequent contributor to industry magazines for over 15 years and is the coauthor of STEPS to Safety Culture Excellence (WILEY, 2013).
Mr. Mathis is a veteran of over 1600 safety, culture and performance improvement projects in 39 countries and 21 languages, and has personally assisted organizations such as Georgia-Pacific, Herman Miller, AstraZeneca, Wrigley, ALCOA, Merck, Rockwell Automation, AMCOL International, Ingersoll-Rand and many others to achieve excellence.
EHS Today has listed Mr. Mathis three consecutive times as one of ‘The 50 People Who Most Influenced EHS’ from 2010 to 2013. SlipNOT’s safety blog claims he “sets a new standard for safety success in the corporate world.” Attendees at public safety conferences say he is “one of the best presenters in [the] past 3 years” and had “one of the best practical, grounded safety culture presentations … ever seen.” Mr. Mathis has presented over 40 webinars and podcasts, published more than 45 articles, and spoken at hundreds of private and public events.
How Do Webinars Work?
A webinar is remarkably cost-effective and convenient. You participate from your office, using a regular telephone and a computer with an Internet connection. You have no travel costs and no out-of-office time.
Plus, for one low price, you can get as many people in your office to participate as you can fit around a speakerphone and a computer screen.
Because the conference is live, you can ask the speakers questions—either on the phone or via the webinar interface.
You will receive access instructions via e-mail three days before the event and the morning of the event. Your conference materials will be included in these emails for you to view, print, and download prior to the event. They are also available on the webinar interface when you log in.
If you are ordering online the morning of the webinar please call our Customer Service Department at 1-800-727-5257 to be sure to get your access instructions and handout materials.