Have a Safer Attitude!

Managers are often responsible for ensuring the safety of employees on the job. This article provides tips to assist you in carrying out this responsibility, on behalf of your entity.

1. Hiring procedures

Assess the safety consciousness of job applicants through your hiring process. An applicant's poor or ambivalent attitude about safety can ultimately lead to injury, property damage, increased costs, and greater absenteeism. Try to identify applicants who have a positive attitude toward safety and have shown responsible behavior in the workplace.

Learn the applicant's attitude toward safety:

  • Ask for copies of safety training certificates or documentation of completed safety course
  • Check driving records, if the applicant will be driving on behalf of the entity
  • Administer appropriate testing

2. Employee orientation

Federal workplace safety and health rules do not have any specific requirements for new employee safety orientation. Some rules require training or certification before or when the employee is initially assigned to work (e.g., hazard communication and forklift safety). Statistics reveal that workers are most susceptible to injuries during their first month on the job. That's why you need to provide basic safety training to new hires, as soon as they come in the door.

Your new hires need to know that safety training is serious right from the start. Emphasize that all unsafe conditions, near misses and accidents must be reported immediately.  Describe the consequences for not reporting. Show employees what equipment they can and cannot operate.

Make sure to cover these basics:

  • The proper safety practices to implement and hazards to be aware of within their department
  • The location of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
  • How to care for and use personal protective equipment
  • Housekeeping and personal clean up rules
  • The location of emergency equipment, first aid supplies, and designated smoking areas
  • How to use tools, machinery, or hazardous processes
  • What to do if there is an accident or injury
  • How to report accidents and near misses
  • How to report emergencies
  • How to report a workers compensation injury and file a claim

Schedule a follow-up meeting a few days after employees' initial orientation. You can judge if new workers understand and are using safe work practices. Answer any questions they may have. Use a checklist to review each of the specific safety practices covered in your meeting. Then, have them demonstrate what they have learned.

3. Self-audit

Many potential accidents and conditions that may lead to injuries or illnesses can be identified through specific and methodical workplace auditing, monitoring and in-house inspection procedures.

Why should you spend time performing audits and inspections? From the results of audits, you can:

  • Identify unsafe conditions and equipment
  • Focus on unsafe work practices or behavior trends before they lead to injuries
  • Reveal the need for new safeguards
  • Involve many more employees in implementing workplace safety procedures

Self-audits provide invaluable opportunities to:

  • Re-evaluate the safety standards of the entity
  • Compare safety results with safety plans
  • Gauge the relative success of safety training efforts
  • Anticipate problems in advance of any OSHA inspection

4. Safety and health committees

Safety and health committees are responsible for the development, implementation and monitoring of workplace safety and health programs, and evaluate program progress. Such programs may involve worker training, safety equipment and safety techniques. The benefits are manifold:

  • Fewer accidents
  • More productivity
  • Less absenteeism
  • Better morale

Conclusion

Keeping up with all the rules and procedures for maintaining employee safety in the workplace is a daunting process. It is worth the effort to establish procedures for ensuring that employees are safety conscious and properly trained during the hiring and orientation process. Use safety resources from the PIRMA Online Resource Library (videos, presentation, DVDs, CD-ROMs, and documents).  Feel free to contact the Loss Control Department at 1-800-362-1011 for any assistance. 

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