Safety is Essential
Danella’s safety culture has evolved over the years, but continues to be an essential part to our organization. It’s only possible when safety and health are understood to be high priority, and accepted as such.
Safety and Health do not exist in a vacuum, isolated from other aspects of administrations such as people and financial management. Building a safety culture is an integral part of the overall “big picture.” Without a safety culture, an organization is left vulnerable.
The culture of an organization is unique and one of a kind to each organization. A safety culture must be different because the players and surroundings are uncommon denominators, and therefore, what may work in one area may not apply in another. However, there are three key attributes that must be looked at when establishing a safety culture: Attitude, Environment and Systems.
Attitudes, both personal and organization affect the development of a safety culture in the workplace. The environment in which people work and the systems and processes in an organization will also influence that culture. Each organization needs to consider all these aspects in developing and nurturing a safety culture that suits the organization and the individuals within it.
How to Establish a Safety Culture
So how can organizations ensure a plan of this magnitude? Here are several factors for establishing a safety culture:
1. Commitment at all levels
2. Safety and health is treated as an investment, not as a cost
3. Safety and health is part of a continuous improvement plan and never perfect
4. Training and information is provided for everyone in the workforce
5. A system for workplace analysis and hazard prevention and control is in place
6. The environment in which people work is a blame free environment
7. The organization celebrates success
8. Communicational breakdown between management and employee
Once you have considered all the factors you can now begin to develop a good safety culture. Remember the upkeep and constant improvement to a safety culture is the bread and butter of the equation. In order to run a tight ship, and to keep the culture at an optimum state, it is imperative that the workforce and upper management continue discussions about “how to improve.”
How to Preserve the Safety Culture
1. Weekly team meetings and monthly stand-downs
2. Strategic planning sessions with workforce and upper management
3. Safety and health committees
4. Use of existing information to support best practices and establish new policy
5. Accident/incident rates and overview or briefing of the incidents
6. Workers compensation costs and losses from other types of accidents
7. Numbers of reported hazards and Near Misses in the workplace and how-to potentially avoid them in the future.
A good safety culture takes time to develop and when it does – success is essentially guaranteed
REMINDER: If you see an unsafe working condition at a job site use your STOP WORK AUTHORITY. Report the issue immediately to your supervisor and correct the issue before proceeding to do work. If the issue continues call the Safety Hotline at 888-676-SAFE.