Failsafe Methods To Inspire Safety Culture In Your Enterprise

Image credit: Piotr Chrobot from Unsplash

Many firms take a blazé approach to safety. It’s the “nanny state,” they tell themselves, getting on their back. 

And to a certain extent, they’re right. The state is obsessed with health and safety, even as it instigates wars. 

But when things really do go wrong in the office, many executives and managers regret their risk-taking attitudes. If someone gets seriously injured or dies, the consequences can be extreme.

The good news is that you don’t need to constantly monitor and berate employees for not living up to company safety standards. Instead, you can implement a company safety culture. This way, they can regulate themselves, without constant micromanagement and nagging from the top. Here’s what you need to do: 

Provide Regular Training
The first step is to provide regular training. You need to make sure that your employees understand the basics of company safety. 

How you do this is very much up to you. Critically, you want to make sure that you have strong health and safety competencies in your organisations. There should always be someone on-site who knows how to respond to the emergencies that you might face during regular operations. 

You should also train each employee on the value of safety protocols and processes. For instance, staff should never walk close to forklift trucks in operation because of the risk of serious injury. 

Involve Workers In Safety Discussions
Another way to instil a culture of safety in the workplace is to involve workers in safety discussions. You want to make sure that employees understand why you are doing what you're doing. 

It can also be helpful to encourage them to take ownership of the process. If they feel like they have a stake in what happens, they are much more likely to internalise safety information. Give them the time and space they need to offer their safety suggestions and investigate whether they have merit. 

Image credit: Mufid Majnun from Unsplash

Make Safety Routine
Humans are governed by habits. Most people tend to do the same things, day after day. That’s why it is a good idea to make safety routine: something that people practise on a personal and group level. 

Make sure, for instance, that you get fire alarms tested & fitted. If people near to wear high-visibility jackets, make it a standard part of your operating procedures. Always be as careful as possible in everything that you and your employee do. Avoid taking risks by putting everything on a clear schedule. 

Develop Your Reporting Processes
Lastly, you’ll want to make sure that you adequately develop your reporting processes. Ensure that your worker health and safety culture is accountable and not just something to which you pay lip service. 

For instance, you might want to develop an appraisal process that rewards employees who behave in a safe manner. You might also want to get managers to submit accident information to you for analysis to better understand whether they are performing in this area or not. 

The good news is this: once you get a health and safety culture started, it is challenging to stop.