ITASCA, IL – In keeping with the 10th anniversary theme of National Safety Month, “Making Our World a Safer Place,” the National Safety Council has released a series of safety tips for the workplace, home and community.
The theme reflects the National Safety Council’s mission to prevent accidental injury and death by educating and influencing people to adopt and maintain safe and healthy practices and behaviors in all aspects of their lives.
Throughout June, 2006 National Safety Month activities will address safety risks and include injury prevention tips applicable to the workplace, driving, and the home and community. (more…)
Building a working responsive safety team can be a challenge for the safety manager in many companies. The safety team should to have a mission statement including a stated purpose. Each person on the safety team, should have a defined role within the team’s function. The safety manager should act as an advisor and mentor.
Some of the team duties can include:
· Develop safety and health policies
· Conduct safety audits, assessments and inspections
· Conduct a safety investigation after an incident
· Participate in Job Safety Analysis
· Create employee safety awareness programs
· Help conduct or select safety training classes
· Be a safety consultant or liaison for their department
· Report any safety violations to their supervisor or safety manager
· Think outside-the-of-box for safety programs
The safety team should be required to meet on a regular basis. Encourage different members of the team to take a lead role in presenting new programs, conducting some parts of training or even taking a leadership role during the meeting. This strategy often gets them to “buy in” to the program(s).
If a member is unable to attend, a replacement from the same department should attend the meeting. Attendance should be part of the minutes. Selection to the safety team should be on a volunteer basis. There can be small rewards (lunch during the meeting) for participation.
It is very importance to have a member of upper management be part of the safety team. This will help demonstrate management’s support for the safety program and sends a clear message of importance to each team member. Communication to the company’s employees can have a key effect on the success of the safety team and what projects they. Good marketing in any business venture is a key.
Safety teams should consist of about 8-12 members, depending on the company size. There should be a cross section of employees from management to line workers. The safety manager should act as an advisor. It is IMPERRATIVE that the safety team members have safety training themselves. Company employees often consider the safety team members safety experts. This is another reason for the need of additional safety training, to understand why safety is so important. If a team member does not take the responsibility seriously they should be replaced after a reasonable time.
Ron Lundy, Safety Manager at Raco Steel, describes his safety team as follows;
“Our safety committee consists of 8 to 10 people each month. In addition to a core group of 4, we have one member of executive management (there are three that rotate) and 4 different employees each month. Every employee in the shop takes a turn on the safety committee whether he wants to or not. We always find that an individual’s attitude towards safety improves considerably after taking a turn on the committee and attending the meeting.”
Creating an effective safety team will be a valuable asset to any company. Working on decreasing incidents will have a positive effect on decreasing worker compensation and health care costs, and show an increase in productivity. These effects can be measured and presented to upper management. In most organizations, a 10% reduction in worker’s compensation cost can reflect significant dollars down to the bottom line.
If you do not have a safety team, consider starting one. Don’t “FLY by the seat-of –your pants.” Creating an effective team can help provide a