BEYOND THE BLADE
By Lisa Stryker, National Association of Landscape Professionals
Making Injury Prevention a
HIGHER PRIORITY
National Association of Landscape Professionals
Focus on the reasons why safety is important to your company.
LEFT TO RIGHT: Wearing a safety vest will help alert others of your presence. Hearing protection is a must for landscape contractors. Landscapers working off the ground trimming trees should be secured with proper harnessing and head protection.
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t seems like a no-brainer to say that safety is important, but have you really thought of all the short and long-term reasons why it is so important to your company? If you focus on those reasons it will help keep safety training and good safety practices at the forefront of everything you do.
So why is safety so important?
It is at the core of your company’s professional image. Safety is important to your clients. Clients, especially commercial clients, need to see that your staff is well-trained and operating safely on their property. If your staff isn’t wearing Personal Protective Equipment, using cones and making their work area safe, and adhering to equipment safety practices, your clients will notice and it can damage your relationship – even if you don’t have an accident on their property.
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It helps you retain employees. We all know how hard it is to find great crew and keep them year after year. People want to work in a professional, safe work environment, so your commitment to your employee’s health and welfare is a great step to keeping great employees. A good safety record makes you more profitable. A bad safety record leads to higher insurance rates, medical costs, lost time, equipment repair costs and more. An effective safety and health program can save $4 to $6 for every $1 invested according to OSHA.
How Do You Make Injury Prevention a Higher Priority?
How do you reduce injuries at your company? You must establish a strong safety culture and make sure everyone in your company knows it is the top priority and reinforce that message
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with regular training and education. Education and enforcement are keys to a strong safety culture. Education - Preparing and delivering safety policies and training should be on-going activities during the entire work season. Many companies do “tailgate training” in the morning before crews head out for the day. If that format doesn’t work for you, then try weekly safety training. Use your own experience to choose the most critical safety training topics. Close call incidents and accidents you have had at the company are great teaching tools. All safety policies and training resources should be in a language your workers can understand. OSHA and the National Association of Landscape Professionals provide almost all safety resources in English and Spanish. Remember to fully document policy and training delivery. Enforcement - A fair and consistent
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5/30/18 2:40 PM