Whenever I interview a senior manager about their company’s safety program, I start by asking them for their assessment of the company’s program. Inevitably, the answer is positive. Then I ask the more relevant question: “What would your employees say if I asked them the same question?” Realistically, that’s the only answer that matters.

If your employees don’t believe in your safety program, it really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. Put another way, if your employees don’t believe that safety is a very high priority to the company, then they won’t treat it as such, and the result is likely to be a high frequency of injuries.

The key to having an effective safety program that minimizes injuries and claims is to convince your employees that safety is your priority. That’s it. Accomplish that, and you will have a safer company.

The good news is that it is not an insurmountable challenge. I’ll use the example of a client of ours in the consumer products business to illustrate how it can be done.

The company had a new president who determined that the way to differentiate his company from the myriad of competitors was to focus on customer service. Understanding that simply saying he wanted better customer service was not enough, he took the following steps:

• Weekly safety meetings to review the response time to orders. Records kept

• Review of every complaint, and how were they handled. Records kept

• Recognition and accolades for jobs well done, in a public forum

• Open discussion of screw ups or unnecessary delays.

• Visibility through newsletters and other communication channels

What he succeeded in doing, in a short period of time, was convincing everyone that customer service was now an absolute priority to him, and they needed to make it a priority to them. Obviously, customer service improved.

The same approach can be taken to safety, with only slight modifications necessary.

1. Declare that safety is a company priority.

2. Provide forklift training, HazCom, heat stress, and all relevant safety trainings with a bilingual safety trainer.

3. Hold meetings on a regular basis where safety is discussed, injuries and their causes are reviewed, and suggestions for improvements made

4. Provide recognition, attaboys, and a safety incentive program to motivate and reward safe behavior.

5. Openly discuss injuries and near misses, with an emphasis on how they could have been avoided. Shine a light on unsafe behavior.

6. Give safety visibility with posters, pictures, newsletter articles, etc.

7. Keep records of safe days by both company and department. Create positive peer pressure to excel.

8. Be sincere. Demonstrate that it’s a true priority by having upper management attend safety meetings and personally recognize safety achievements.

When employees understand what the company’s priorities are, they respond. Simply stating that something is a priority is not only insufficient; it can actually work against you. Everything a company does after that is a proof statement, with employees evaluating whether the company really means it, or is just saying the words. When the company demonstrates that safety is important, it reinforces their credibility, and sends a clear signal to every worker that he / she needs to make safe behavior their own individual priority.

James Parker is an author having experience in writing about the importance of Safety Meetings and Workplace safety. His articles are fond useful to business firms to get some well experienced safety and security companies as well as some acknowledgement about how to deal in emergency situations. For details visit safetyconsultantsonsite.com