Is Safety a Part of Your Company’s Core Values?

One common task EHS&S professionals must tackle is promoting “safety first” to employees, with the awareness that safety success in the past doesn’t guarantee safety success in the future. Three of the most common areas safety professionals identify as their top challenges are

1. fostering employee engagement 
2. preventing employees from taking shortcuts or ignoring the rules and
3. encouraging supervisor and/or management participation in and commitment to safety programs.

The following tips from the American Society of Safety Professionals and the National Safety Council can help you take a proactive approach in your efforts to ensure a safe workplace for employees.

• Remind supervisors and yourself to communicate safety every day. Communication doesn’t have to be structured. It can be as simple as saying to an employee in passing, “Are you having a safe work shift today?” 
• Make connections and build relationships with C-suite executives. These are the people who will provide funding for safety programs and play a significant role in communicating the organization’s workplace safety-emphasis messaging to employees. 
• Bringing employees from different departments and/or locations together to discuss safety topics can give them a fresh perspective on their workplace. It can also create a strong sense of “safety first” and “we’re in this together” across the organization. Encourage employees to learn from their peers.
• Get employees involved in the safety process. Ask employees for advice on policies and procedures. They are ones doing the work and can provide valuable insights on whether a procedure will actually work in the workplace. Benefit? Increased employee engagement.

Looking for resources to help you keep employees safe in the workplace and meet your organization’s safety goals? ResponsibleAg offers several, including:  

1. Audit Assessment Checklist
2. Best Management Practices
3. List of Significant Issues 
4. Compliance Library (ResponsibleAg participants only) 

For more information or to join ResponsibleAg, visit ResponsibleAg.org