SMS : Employees Participation in Safety

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Chapter : Safety Management 

Employees Participation in Safety

To boost the moral of employees towards safety, to develop safety culture in the organization, to make employees safety conscious, to maintain safe working condition and pollution free working atmosphere, to implement "Safety and Health Policy", to keep accident free work place, it is necessary that employees should to motivated to take part in safety activities.

Area of participation in Safety

1. Safety Committee :- It helps management to implement its policy and also it helps in accident prevention program. Safety committee advice management on all matters of safety, health of work pace. Employee's participation in such committee creates safety among employees that helps to maintain safe working condition.

2. Safety Education & Training :- Education in a specific subject means acquiring of board and through knowledge in that subject. Training deals with the development of skill in performance. Safety education is for developing safety mindedness, a vivid awareness of the importance of eliminating accidents and a mental alertness in recognizing and correcting conditions and practices that might lead to injury. Safety training is for developing skill in the use of safe work techniques and practices.

3. Safety Suggestion Scheme :- This is a practice to invite safety suggestion for improvement in process, method, equipment, safety meeting, contests, safety inspection procedure, etc.

4. Safety Contests :- It is promotional methods for employee's participation, by conducting competitions, such as Safety poster, Slogan, Quiz , On act play, safety song, etc.

5. Safety Campaign :- Employees are involved in safety campaigns arranged for a week or month on different activities such as use of PPE, good house keeping etc. Such campaign keep the employees attentive and also create awareness that help to promote safety in the organization.

👉There are several important steps you can take to have world-class safety, even without many people on your team.

1. Determine the managerial perspective on safety within your organization. This is the single most important thing to turn your attention toward before anything else, as it will set the tone for your ability to drive safety initiatives; this information will determine the direction of the health and safety initiatives in the organization and will tell you how much support you will have. You will want to know whether the safety attitude is reactive or proactive.
2. Analyze the current state of safety in the organization. This can be done with an initial SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). This will prove valuable for planning the safety process going forward.
3. Align safety with the business goals and objectives. Reviewing the mission statement and overall goals of the organization will help align the safety process. The results of the review will determine the direction; it may be compliance, the creation of a safety management system, or some combination of the two. Sehn says that "most safety professionals can do the compliance part . . . [but] to take the program to another level you really need to look at how we integrate safety into the process. What do we do from a hazard assessment, a risk-assessment standpoint? How do we take those kind[s] of things and really embed it into the business practices?" Compliance is part of this, but a dynamic safety management system will combine the two to prevent incidents from occurring.
4. Understand your legal requirements. The OSHA standards you’re subject to depend on what industry you’re in, but everyone has to be familiar with some of the regulations. Take steps to ensure you understand all of the requirements applicable to your organization.
5. Develop a safety plan. The safety professional must look at safety from a business plan standpoint. A budget for safety may be required by some companies. The cost of safety may require a return on investment. The safety professional must perceive safety as a business process.
6. Write the safety program. The elements of the program will depend on the nature of the business and the operations. The program may include but not be limited to the following:

• Hazard communication
• Personal protective equipment
• Walking and working surfaces
• Electrical safety
• Emergency and fire prevention plans
• Cranes and powered industrial trucks
• Lock out/tag out (control of hazardous energy)
• Confined space entry
• Fall protection
• Industrial hygiene
• Fleet safety

👉A number of tips on having world-class safety even if you're the only safety professional in your organization. Here some more advice.

1. Understand what safety program resources are available to you. The resources for safety are numerous: Programs are available on line, from insurers, from consultants and from vendors. The programs are often boilerplate but the more dynamic documents will be effective in providing the direction for safety improvement.
2. Safety committees can be formed to extend your reach. The committee can be an extension of the safety professional. This committee can help with hazard identification, incident investigation, and more. The makeup of the committee may be determined by several factors, but it should include a balance of both shop floor and management representatives. The committee must meet regularly, schedule inspections, be trained in the committee requirements, and participate in incident investigations.
3. Know what to do if an incident/accident happens. The investigation format should be a component of an overall Crisis Management Plan. If you don’t have this, you’re missing a serious opportunity to influence safety in the aftermath of a problem. Training/updating and practice are critical for the plan to work in the event of an incident.
4. Know when to seek outside assistance. There are several reasons to seek out seek outside assistance, such as when you are over your head, do not have the expertise (i.e. for industrial hygiene sampling, specialized training, new standards, etc.), or you need to define the help needed. There are numerous sources of help including insurance risk control departments, consultations, insurance brokers, independent consultants, vendors/suppliers of equipment and safety equipment and supplies, safety organizations and community resources, and the internet.

By following some of these simple guidelines, even a safety department of one can be an effective force to improve safety across the organization.