DEVELOP Developing a Positive Safety Culture

Developing a Positive Safety Culture

The Health & Safety Culture within your organisation can and will have an enormous impact on the safety outcomes & accident rates in your workplace.

High levels of accident rates within your organisation can have Disengaged workers 60% more errors and

a detrimental effect on the productivity, efficiency and profitability of the business and that’s why it is vital that a

have 37% higher absenteeism, 49% more accidents and positive Health & Safety culture is always promoted.

defects

In theory promoting a positive culture is simple, in reality – not always the case. So, let’s talk about what you can do to ensure employees are engaged in building and maintaining a safe working environment; more appreciated and more motivated.

It all starts from the top…It’s true, without the commitment of management and senior management your safety culture is doomed to fail. Employees who feel that their managers and superiors care about them and their welfare will always work better and are more likely to follow the policies and procedures that you are enforcing. So, get the top dogs on board!

Get trained up…Investing in training your employees has a number of benefits. If they be reporting issues and hazards, how are

see you investing in them, then they are more you going to improve things if they don’t?

likely to invest in you. Again, it shows you They are the ones on the front line and will likely be identifying these issues first and

care about their safety and well-being. It also

helps with building an understanding of foremost. If they don’t

workplace hazards, what to be looking out feel comfortable approaching you it’s likely

for, safe systems of work, why it is important you won’t know what’s wrong until an accident has happened.

to follow procedures procedures…the list is Involve your team…Communication is key. If employees know and understand what’s going on in their workplace then they are way more likely to respond well to it. If they understand why it is they have to do something, or follow a certain rule then it is more likely it will be adhered to. Employees who feel like part of something or part of a team feel Be approachable…You want employees to

endless.

There’s so much more we could be talking about but hopefully you get the jist! Every workplace is different and will have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to safety. What’s important is that you are keeping on top of it and always working to improve it. It costs nothing to show your team you care. Training yes, that will cost you, but sometimes you have to spend money to make money. To further this – IOSH and ISSA have recently partnered to promote and deliver the Vision Zero message. Centred around three core values; safety, health and well being, this exciting initiative’s objective is to “eradicate all work-related accidents & illnesses”. To read more, or to get involved, you can follow this link - https://iosh.com/training-and-skills/vision-zero-with-issa/