Most employers consider their employees to be their most important asset.  Therefore, it is imperative for employers to protect workers from hazards, or potential hazards, in the workplace.  OSHA requires employers to provide a workplace that is free from recognized hazards that are causing, or are likely to cause, death or serious harm to employees.  In order to achieve a safety-conscience workplace, an effective safety plan must be in place.

 Some key elements to a successfully safety plan are:

• Top management support
• Comprehensive written plan encompassing all hazards or potential hazards
• Responsibility of executing plan by each and every employee
• Communicated to all employees and implemented on a daily basis
• Reviewed and updated as conditions change

 A comprehensive safety plan not only helps to prevent injuries, but also documents policies and procedures for potential accidents.  OSHA also requires written programs for certain specific hazards.  In cases of an OSHA inspection and/or citations, written programs that are being followed can give you substantial “good faith” penalty reductions.  Because the safety program affects every employee, it is important that the program address the role of everyone within the organization. 

However, no matter how comprehensive a safety plan is, without top management support it is doomed to fail.  One way to show support for safety is demonstrated by Alcoa’s CEO, Paul O’Neill.  He routinely opens meetings with Alcoa managers by asking questions about the safety record of their business units, divisions and/or plants.  Furthermore, Paul would introduce a designated an Alcoa employee who would identify all the exits, the evacuation plan and other safety procedures with the group before commencing with Alcoa business.  That top management support for safety filters down to the employees and helps them to focus on this key topic.

 A comprehensive safety plan is in place to not only protect workers but to add benefits for employers and companies by:

• Reducing the extent and severity of work-related injuries and illness  
• Lowering workers’ compensation costs
• Reducing secondary costs such as down time, administrative costs associated with work accidents and training replacement for injured workers
• Improving employee morale and productivity
• Helping with retention and recruiting due to the companies’ solid reputation for safety

 But how do you keep safety on the forefront of employee’s minds?  The basic tool is communication.  Communication about workplace safety needs to be constant and consistent, starting with the number one method – management support.  This includes making safety just as important as productivity; furthermore, many companies have found that increasing safety performance actually increases productivity.  Other techniques for communicating safety include the following:

Safety Meetings
Plan meetings in detail and set an agenda, introduce practical and timely topics and use a variety of media to talk with the group: videos, charts, demonstrations, panel discussion or guest speakers.  The best time for such meetings is at the beginning of a shift when people are alert.  Traditionally, voluntary attendance at safety meetings is poor; however, by tying in some type of reward, attendance can increase.  For example, Olin Chemical reported they had only 60% attendance at safety meetings. In the first month of an incentive program, the figure jumped to 100%.

Contests
Contests can be effective because they encourage employee participation.  Ideas include slogan contests (“Safety Rules!”) poster contests for employees’ children, hours worked without an injury, hours worked without an inquiry, etc.

 One creative example comes from the Maxwell House Division of General Foods, which ran a stock certificate safety contest over a one-year period.  For each week a department worked without a lost-workday injury, employees were credited with a safety stock certificate worth 50 cents.  Dividends were paid at the rate of 10 cents for the first 1,000 consecutive safe hours worked, 25 cents for the 10,000 consecutive hours, 50 cents for the 50,000 consecutive hours and $1 for the first 100,000 hours for each stock certificate.  (Natalie – does this mean that the 1,000 hours are needed per employee, or perhaps 1000 hours per department?  If it’s per employee, this seems to be a really cheap incentive, i.e. after a year, the employee would receive $26 plus potential dividends.)

Recognition and Rewards
Awards serve several purposes including an acknowledgement of good performance, continual reminder of underlying messages and a basis for publicity.  Make sure the award are meaningful for employees. For example, have the president or the Chairman personally present it to the recipients.  Ideas for recognition and rewards include savings bonds, cash, gifts, plaques, prize drawings, trips, etc.

 A trucking firm that transports new cars centered its program on a one-of-a-kind jacket imprinted with a special crest. To win the jacket, employees had to drive for three months without an accident. “On the last day of the contest, one driver backed his truck into a light pole and damaged the back window of a new car," says Bill Sims, President. "He asked if he could buy that car. He didn't want to lose out and be the only guy at his terminal without a jacket." 

Verbal, Written and Auditory Communication
Keep all aspects of communication open when promoting a safety-conscience business.  Use posters, banners, display cases, emails, pamphlets or payroll stuffers, articles in newsletters, hats, t-shirts, etc., to constantly remind employees that everyone plays a part in safety.

 There are thousands of ways to keep employees interested in safety; the key to being effective is to be creative, diverse and sincere.  It is always important to remember the first rule of communicating – K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple and Sincere.  The most successful safety programs are those where employees and managers work together to actively participate in the planning and execution.

 Developing an incentive program is not the only key, by supplementing the top management support with an increase focus on training, providing knowledge and skill necessary to workers and supervisors enables them to more actively participate and manage safety.  It helps to change the corporate safety structure from a direction of 'head office' safety group only, to one which starts to assume more ownership, responsibility and accountability for safety within their respective areas of operation.  Doing this helps build a safety culture where safety is a value for all workers and management, not simply a value promoted by the safety staff.