Is your Health and Safety Program Auspicious Enough, what you building!

Auspicious means conducive to success

One of the things I enjoy most about being a safety consultant is that every day brings forth new and dynamic adventures. How do you measure your Health and Safety Program success is it by passing your safety audit or is it by recognizing that is takes a whole team to make your program run or is it that you have a low TRIF, the answers are endless, Im just happy at the end of the day everyone went home without being hurt mentally or physically.

In looking at your safety program does it have the right goals to make it go forward

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.

 From senior leadership to management to coordinators, all levels employed within the organization need to be committed to the creation and following of safety practices, policies and procedures. Keep these issues in mind: 

  Each worker must believe he or she can attain the goal and that rewards will appeal to each individual on the team. 

  Everyone must have the chance to be recognized for outstanding individual achievement, even if the team doesn't meet its objectives. 

  Teams should consist of no more than six to eight members to keep the group cohesive and focused. 

  Teams should be comprised of both supervisors and workers who perform similar tasks and encounter the same hazards. 

  Don't pit teams against each other. They should compete against themselves. For example, base each group's goals on its previous year's performance. Workers will be focused on improving themselves and their team rather than competing against other groups. 

Hazard Recognition, Evaluation, and Control 
This element is key to any health and safety program. When asked, most people on the street would say is this is what a safety program is all about. This involves proactive hazard recognition in terms of environment (the surroundings of the workers), the people actually doing the work, equipment/materials used in the work process, and processes/practices themselves. A formal “Job Hazard Analysis” assists with the process and is integral to many of the other elements listed below.

Workplace Design and Engineering 
We often see failure in this aspect when we are called in to solve a problem. Designing safety into a workplace is as important as designing in efficiency (and these often go hand in hand). Some of this is already done by building code (e.g., electrical standards, fire suppression, and egress requirements) but other aspects must be consciously addressed such as ergonomics, ventilation, and noise requirements for the anticipated work at hand, equipment and machine safeguarding, materials handling and storage, use of automated processes, and added reserve capacity.

Safety Performance Management
This can be thought of as the measurable actions of employees in relation to safety in their work. Performance measurement should reflect how workers (management and workers alike) are actually doing compared to applicable regulatory requirements and identified corporate goals. This should include a system of accountability for meeting those standards within their control.

Motivation, Behavior, and Attitudes
The goal of this element is to change behavior and attitude to promote a safer and healthier workplace. It places great value on visible management leadership and support for changing unsafe behaviors, attitudes, and work processes. One additional key component is the reinforcement of the desired behaviors through positive recognition.

A safety and health system for your business

As an employer, it is your responsibility to maintain a safe and healthy workplace. A safety and health management system, or safety program, can help you focus your efforts at improving your work environment. Whatever you call it, your plan describes what the people in your organization do to prevent injuries and illnesses at your workplace.

Your organization will have its own unique system, reflecting your way of doing business, the hazards of your work, and how you manage the safety and health of your employees:

• If you manage a small business in a low-risk industry, your system may simply involve listening to your employees' concerns and responding to them.
• A large business in a hazardous industry may have notebooks full of written policies and procedures and a full-time safety director.

What's most important is that your system works for your organization. It's up to you to decide how best to operate a safe and healthy workplace, and to put your plan into practice.

What makes a successful system?

A successful system will be part of your overall business operation, as important as the other things you do to succeed in business.

Successful safety and health systems have the following in place:

• Managers committed to making the program work.
• Employees involved in the program.
• A system to identify and control hazards.
• Compliance with OHS and other regulations.
• Training on safe work practices.
• Mutual respect, caring and open communication in a climate conducive to safety.
• Continuous improvement 

1. Leadership expectations and communication.“It makes business sense to improve safety, but if that’s your message, it’s hard for it to resonate down to the floor,”.
2. Measurements and review.“It’s one thing for a CEO to get on a platform and say safety is a value – you need follow-up and review mechanisms as well.
3. Organization structure.An organization that succeeds in safety must have a strong structure in place, including subject matter expertise and code/compliance/auditing capability.
4. Reporting.To achieve safety success, safety must be front and center – and a top priority – in organization reporting.
5. Standardization.Organizations should be flexible but standardized in their safety efforts.
6. Time and dollar commitment. When pre- and post-incident costs are added together, is your company paying less overall than others – showing that it’s best to make the investment in safetybefore incidents, not after.
7. Education.Companies that strive to create successful safety processes must have training modules, code and compliance guidelines and other educational mechanisms in place.
8. Case management.According to safety, world-class safety systems must have solid case management in place from the moment an injury occurs. If handled appropriately, the case management time may be greatly decreased.
9. Awareness activities.The final key to a successful safety program, is to keep the work force engaged, always keep safety at the top of mind and to have a proactive focus.

Put as much energy into your commitment to safety and health as you put into any other important part of your business. Make sure to include workplace safety and health in your business plan and integrate it into all facets of the business.

• Write a policy that emphasizes the importance you place on workplace safety and health.
• Commit the resources (time, money, personnel) needed to protect your employees.
• Begin meetings with a safety topic.
• Encourage employee participation in safety and health.
• Let employees know they will be expected to follow safe work practices if they work for your business. And follow them yourself.
• Respond to all reports of unsafe or unhealthy conditions or work practices.
• If injuries or illnesses occur, make it your business to find out why.
• Go beyond the regulations; address all hazards, whether or not they are covered by laws.

In a safe and healthy workplace, employees have a stake in the success of the program --- safety and health is everyone's responsibility. Actively encourage employee involvement if you want your program to succeed. Hold people accountable and makes sure everyone does their part.

• Establish an active workplace safety and health safety committee.
• Make daily safety inspections part of some employees' jobs.
• Keep employees informed about safety inspections, injury and illness statistics, and other safety-related issues.
• Give everyone a meaningful activity that supports safety.
• Value employee input and feedback. Employees often know more about safety problems and solutions than managers do.
• Make sure employees help review and improve the program.
• Hold employees accountable
• Include safety and health responsibilities in job descriptions. Make following safe work practices part of performance evaluation.
• Set safety goals and hold everyone accountable.
• Discipline employees who behave in ways that could harm themselves or other.
• Establish a clear system for reporting hazards, injuries, illnesses and close calls.
• Recognize employees who contribute to keeping the workplace safe and healthy.

Before you can control hazards you need to know what the hazards are. Here are some ways to identify safety and health hazards:

• Review records of accidents, injuries, illnesses, and close calls
• review OH&S logs, first aid logs, workers' compensation reports, complaints, and close calls
• look for trends or common factors in
• kinds of injuries or illnesses
• parts of body
• time of day/shift
• location
• equipment
• protective equipment
• department
• Survey employees
• Review inspection reports from enforcement inspections, insurance surveys, or consultations.
• Learn the OH&S and other regulations that have to do with your workplace.
• Inspect your workplace for safety and health problems, current and potential.

Once you know the hazards, you can decide how to control them.

• Prioritize the hazards you found
• Which are most likely to cause serious injury or illness?
• Which can you fix immediately?
• Do you have to make long term plans to correct some of the hazards?
• Make a plan for correcting the hazards
• Conduct job hazard analysis to identify how best to correct the hazards
• Find out best practices from companies in your industry
• Correct the hazards
• Engineering controls eliminate the hazards through safe tools, facilities, and equipment. These are the best controls.
• Administrative controls don't remove the hazards; they reduce exposure by changing the work practices. For instance, rotating workers, rest breaks, training programs.
• Personal protective equipment puts a barrier between the employee and the hazard, using, for example, gloves or safety shoes. If you use personal protective equipment, you have to assess the hazard beforehand and train employees the right way to use the equipment.
• Evaluate the changes to make sure they have corrected the problem and not created other hazards. And periodically re-survey the work environment and work practices.

Train personnel about the hazards they may be exposed to at work and how to protect themselves. Keep records of all training. Provide:

• General safety orientation for new employees and employees starting new jobs, including company safety regulations and emergency procedures.
• Specific training on the hazards of their jobs and how to do their jobs safely. (Many OSHA standards include specific training requirements)
• Retraining
• As required by the standards
• When jobs change
• When employees return from long absence
• As needed to ensure employees know how to do their jobs safely.

Support a culture of safety

Workers hold safety as a value; they actively care about themselves and others. Mutual respect is the norm.

• Establish effective two-way communication.Respond to the needs and concerns of workers.
• Make sure management goes beyond the regulations to ensure a safe workplace.
• Encourage workers to go "beyond the call of duty" to ensure a safe workplace.
• Support a work environment that fosters trust, creativity, and general well-being.

Continually improve your system

Review your program's strengths and weaknesses. Does it accurately reflect how you want to manage safety and health?

Developing a robust auspicious safety program is never easy, but it is an essential part of keeping your business productive