Bedrock – always appropriate. I want to thank my mentor in this topic, Debra Daniels for her expertise – Debra, have I incorporated your wisdom appropriately?
- Build safety into the culture – most safety programs are pointless as they are considered an outside program (and many times, meetings are viewed as something to survive through). Instead, build it into the daily routine – it is the ONLY road to success.
- Emphasize common sense – instead of complex programs and useless signs that most employees ignore, emphasize common sense. If sticking your hand into the machine might cause it to be cut off, don’t do it. Obvious but not necessarily common if the company focuses all communications on efficiency at the expense of all else.
- Involve the employees – who knows best what is safe and how to ensure safety? The person dealing with the topic on a daily basis.
- Make safety a top priority – it doesn’t work to say it’s a top priority but only follow it when convenient or easy. Instead, communicate its importance. Assign key resources to the topic. In essence, show that it’s a priority.
- Don’t forget to track progress – TIR or total incident rate is a common metric. Track progress. But ensure that employees are encouraged to report close calls and opportunities; otherwise, you’ve violated the #1 rule of “saying it’s a priority but not demonstrating it’s a priority”.