Created for: ,
Created by: Health & Safety Solutions, Inc.
Created on: 01/01/1970
OVERALL
Score: 0
Well, well, well you have some work to do! An integrated safety and health management system is needed. At this level the organization may exhibit a level of safety awareness in the form of warning signs and safety posters. Creating a safety culture takes time. Your score indicates the company is in the beginning stages of creating a sustainable safety culture. Do not attempt to implement everything at once and please do not get discouraged. It may appear overwhelming at first but take it one step at a time and you will create the safety culture you desire. As the saying goes, "Rome was not built in a day!" It takes time to build the culture because it does not happen instantly. Obtaining your score is the first big step to creating an effective, cost-saving sustainable safety program. Implement the list of recommendations provided. Next steps: Go after the low hanging fruit and implement the easiest recommendations. You are going to need help at this stage to build the foundation required to move to the next level. Build a team!
INVENT
The starting point for creating a sustainable safety system. This is the very first component that needs to be accomplished. Senior management must set the tone and be visible advocates for safety. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to evaluate, minimize and eliminate potential hazards to employees. Additionally, OSHA recommends that the workplace health and safety policy be stated in such a way that employees understand its importance in relationship to other organizational values.
Score:
Management has some work to do to create a sustainable safety culture. Safety appears not to be on senior managements radar screen and management probably has no perceived value of the safety system or is just simply indifferent. A strong health and safety message is important. It will take some time but management must strengthen the safety environment. Management must set clear expectations for a safe work environment.
Recommendations for Improvement:
INVEST
Management must provide the necessary resources to support the safety system. Management commitment is the driving force behind organizing and controlling the safety activities within the organization. Damaged equipment and missing parts are indicative of poor maintenance and a lack of funding that can lead to serious accidents and injuries. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to provide employees safe, well-maintained tools and equipment.
Score:
Management is not adequately investing in the safety system. Senior management views workers' compensation expense as a cost of doing business. The funding to institute a health and safety system is not provided. Most likely a preventative maintenance program is lacking.
Recommendations for Improvement:
INTEGRATE
The organization must integrate safety with other organizational core values such as production, quality, human resources, customer service and finance. One is not more important than the other. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects management to have a written policy that makes it clear to everyone in the organization that health and safety is important to the company.
Score:
Safety is not a core company value. The organization does not have its eye on safety.
Recommendations for Improvement:
INTRODUCE
Employees should be introduced to the company's safety management system during new hire orientation. You should start at the earliest stage possible by cultivating attitude and instilling health and safety values in employees. Set the tone right out of the gate on how safety is viewed in your organization. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, while OSHA has no specific requirement for new hire orientation, there are many training requirements that explicitly state that training must be provided to new employees.
Score:
Safety is not part of the new hire agenda.
Recommendations for Improvement:
INVOLVE
Everyone has an important role to play in recognizing and controlling unsafe work conditions. A safe and healthy workplace requires each worker's active participation in identify potential hazards. If employees are not directly involved in the safety system it is doomed to fail. Silos must be removed because a "we versus them" mentality just won't work. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects employers to involve employees in decisions that affect their health and safety.
Score:
Management has some work to do. They need to enlist the efforts of employees and get them involved in the safety system. Management must elicit trust.
Recommendations for Improvement:
INFORM
Management must provide clear communication at every level of the organization. This component is embedded in several of the other components, so this component is one of the most important (i.e. invent, specifically creating the vision and management actions, instruct, specifically the "one on one" safety training with supervisors, involve, specifically safety committee meetings where information is exchanged, intervene, where management provides feedback, influence, where employees are recognized and rewarded for their safety achievements and indicators, where metrics and measurements provide feedback on safety system performance). From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to keep employees informed about relevant workplace health and safety matters.
Score:
Management is not providing enough health and safety information. Employee involvement in the organization's safety system is essential to its effectiveness. A strong safety message provides an opportunity for management to let people know that the organization really does care about them. At this level safety is probably only discussed if there is a serious incident or violation.
Recommendations for Improvement:
INSTRUCT
Employees should be alarmed if they see untrained workers operating machinery, equipment, or using tools. Knowledge is the foundation of a sound and sustainable safety system. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to provide training required by the OSHA standards based on the exposure to certain hazards.
Score:
Management must provide safety instruction to employees. Management responsibilities. Employees may not understand the hazards to which they may be exposed.
Recommendations for Improvement:
INSPECT
Management must set the expectations, and then inspect what they expect. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to recognize hazards to employees and provide them a workplace that is free from those recognized hazards.
Score:
Management is likely not conducting regular physical safety inspections of the workplace. Written safety reports and corrective actions are likely not taking place.
Recommendations for Improvement:
INVESTIGATE
Management must audit their systems (health and safety, environmental and post injury). They should thoroughly look into every accident and near miss for the root cause. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to conduct through accident investigations.
Score:
Management needs to regularly audit the safety system and thoroughly investigate accidents and near misses for root cause.
Recommendations for Improvement:
INTERVENE
Corrective action must be initiated promptly when serious safety and health hazards are discovered. People must follow established workplace safety procedures. Discipline is a form of respect so if employees are not following safety procedures there must be held accountable. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to discipline employees who fail to adhere to established safety policies and rules.
Score:
Management needs to conduct audits and issue discipline to help support the process of change in the organization. Hazard control is seriously lacking or absent from this establishment. Accountability may be lacking. When there is no accountability this means there is no safety system.
Recommendations for Improvement:
INFLUENCE
People must be motivated to perform in a certain way. Employees should be recognized for their safety achievements and rewarded much like a sales person is recognized and rewarded for reaching a sales quota. Incentives help put a spotlight on safety and help reinforce its importance in an organization. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA does not expect or require companies to have safety incentives programs and actually may frown on a company that does because sometimes these programs can lead to under reporting of accidents. However, if the safety system is exceptional and the company can demonstrate that employees are not under reporting accidents, OSHA should be OK.
Score:
Management has some work to do to create an exceptional safety incentive program. Management must commit to a safety incentive program that recognizes and rewards employees for their safety achievements.
Recommendations for Improvement:
INDICATE
What gets measured gets done. Management needs to be able to measure success and keep score with tangible, measurable metrics. Management should be aware of worker behavior that compromises safety such as poor housekeeping. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to keep OSHA required records of work related injuries and illnesses.
Score:
Management has a marginal system for providing information on safety performance. Develop safety indicators and publish the results.
Recommendations for Improvement:
Created by: Health & Safety Solutions, Inc.
Created on: 01/01/1970
OVERALL
Score: 0
Well, well, well you have some work to do! An integrated safety and health management system is needed. At this level the organization may exhibit a level of safety awareness in the form of warning signs and safety posters. Creating a safety culture takes time. Your score indicates the company is in the beginning stages of creating a sustainable safety culture. Do not attempt to implement everything at once and please do not get discouraged. It may appear overwhelming at first but take it one step at a time and you will create the safety culture you desire. As the saying goes, "Rome was not built in a day!" It takes time to build the culture because it does not happen instantly. Obtaining your score is the first big step to creating an effective, cost-saving sustainable safety program. Implement the list of recommendations provided. Next steps: Go after the low hanging fruit and implement the easiest recommendations. You are going to need help at this stage to build the foundation required to move to the next level. Build a team!
INVENT
The starting point for creating a sustainable safety system. This is the very first component that needs to be accomplished. Senior management must set the tone and be visible advocates for safety. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to evaluate, minimize and eliminate potential hazards to employees. Additionally, OSHA recommends that the workplace health and safety policy be stated in such a way that employees understand its importance in relationship to other organizational values.
Score:
Management has some work to do to create a sustainable safety culture. Safety appears not to be on senior managements radar screen and management probably has no perceived value of the safety system or is just simply indifferent. A strong health and safety message is important. It will take some time but management must strengthen the safety environment. Management must set clear expectations for a safe work environment.
Recommendations for Improvement:
- Create a safety and health policy statement that is signed by the company's CEO. All employees should be aware of the statement. Make sure it gets wide exposure.
- Create a written policy that sets a high priority for health and safety.
- Create written safety and health goals and supporting objectives.
- Formal safety and health goals and objectives should be updated annually.
- Complete a Job Safety Analysis for each job.
- Management must work at creating a culture where safety is perceived to have value in the organization.
- Management must walk the plant floor or construction site and talk with and listen to employees about safety. Visibility gives employees the sense that senior management really cares about safety and is truly committed to the health and safety of the employees.
- Ensure that management planning continues to include health and safety issues.
- Create an environment where everyone feels comfortable raising health and safety questions without the fear of retaliation.
INVEST
Management must provide the necessary resources to support the safety system. Management commitment is the driving force behind organizing and controlling the safety activities within the organization. Damaged equipment and missing parts are indicative of poor maintenance and a lack of funding that can lead to serious accidents and injuries. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to provide employees safe, well-maintained tools and equipment.
Score:
Management is not adequately investing in the safety system. Senior management views workers' compensation expense as a cost of doing business. The funding to institute a health and safety system is not provided. Most likely a preventative maintenance program is lacking.
Recommendations for Improvement:
- Provide appropriate funding for the health and safety system.
- Purchase necessary tools and protective equipment so that employees can perform their jobs safely.
- Ensure equipment and machinery is properly functioning by implementing a preventive maintenance program.
- Employees should be given enough time to perform their jobs safely.
- Provide employees that are assigned health and safety responsibilities the necessary training, timely information and resources to perform their duties.
- Ensure that employees assigned health and safety responsibilities and the authority to perform their duties.
- Ensure that emergency equipment is well maintained.
INTEGRATE
The organization must integrate safety with other organizational core values such as production, quality, human resources, customer service and finance. One is not more important than the other. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects management to have a written policy that makes it clear to everyone in the organization that health and safety is important to the company.
Score:
Safety is not a core company value. The organization does not have its eye on safety.
Recommendations for Improvement:
- Safety must become a core company value in order to improve the safety management system.
- Safety must be equally valued as production, quality, customer service and other organizational values.
- Ensure that the health and safety system receives the same attention from management as productivity and quality.
- Until "safety" becomes part of the company language the safety system will languish in mediocrity.
- Safety is not seamlessly integrated with other organizational values. Management must make the commitment to turn safety into a core company value.
- When everyone in the organization truly believes that safety is a core company value their day-to-day activities will habitually encompass safety practices.
- Until there is meaningful interaction between employees and management regarding safety, then safety is considered an added activity and is not a core company value.
- For safety to be truly considered a core company value there must be consequences for ignoring safety practices. Discipline demonstrates that your safety system has teeth.
- The organization needs to do a better job of ensuring that safety is not seen as solely the responsibility of the safety manager but that it is the responsibility of everyone in the organization. One is not more important than the other.
INTRODUCE
Employees should be introduced to the company's safety management system during new hire orientation. You should start at the earliest stage possible by cultivating attitude and instilling health and safety values in employees. Set the tone right out of the gate on how safety is viewed in your organization. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, while OSHA has no specific requirement for new hire orientation, there are many training requirements that explicitly state that training must be provided to new employees.
Score:
Safety is not part of the new hire agenda.
Recommendations for Improvement:
- Safety must be part of the new hire orientation process. Start at the earliest stage possible by cultivating attitude and instilling health and safety values in employees.
- Provide new employees with enough time to work with an experienced employee before they are left to work on the job alone.
- In order to build trust and demonstrate to new employees that safety is important they must feel comfortable approaching their supervisor to ask questions regarding safety.
- As soon as possible, it is important that new hires clearly understand that safety is a core company value and is an integral part of the business.
- Before they start their new job employees must be briefed on safety procedures.
- New employees must understand the company's progressive discipline for safety infractions. To reinforce safe behavior progressive discipline must be consistently issued for safety infractions.
- New hires must realize how important safety training is right from the start.
INVOLVE
Everyone has an important role to play in recognizing and controlling unsafe work conditions. A safe and healthy workplace requires each worker's active participation in identify potential hazards. If employees are not directly involved in the safety system it is doomed to fail. Silos must be removed because a "we versus them" mentality just won't work. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects employers to involve employees in decisions that affect their health and safety.
Score:
Management has some work to do. They need to enlist the efforts of employees and get them involved in the safety system. Management must elicit trust.
Recommendations for Improvement:
- To help promote an atmosphere of safety and health awareness among employees, create a joint employee/management safety committee that meets for at least one hour monthly. This provides a means for employees and management to communicate their respective safety and health needs.
- Engage employees by allowing them to help conduct facility safety inspections.
- Empower and encourage employees to stop any activity that presents a potentially serious safety hazard.
- Involve employees in the safety system so that they feel and believe that the system is effective.
- Create an environment where employees feel comfortable communicating health and safety suggestions to management.
- Create a process that allows for employees to become involved in health and safety matters. Employee engagement is one of the most effective ways to change the safety culture.
- Create a safety suggestion program and ensure that action is taken on suggestions that are submitted.
- The safety committee must be respected in order for it to be effective. Ensure that the committee is seen as a committee that gets things done.
INFORM
Management must provide clear communication at every level of the organization. This component is embedded in several of the other components, so this component is one of the most important (i.e. invent, specifically creating the vision and management actions, instruct, specifically the "one on one" safety training with supervisors, involve, specifically safety committee meetings where information is exchanged, intervene, where management provides feedback, influence, where employees are recognized and rewarded for their safety achievements and indicators, where metrics and measurements provide feedback on safety system performance). From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to keep employees informed about relevant workplace health and safety matters.
Score:
Management is not providing enough health and safety information. Employee involvement in the organization's safety system is essential to its effectiveness. A strong safety message provides an opportunity for management to let people know that the organization really does care about them. At this level safety is probably only discussed if there is a serious incident or violation.
Recommendations for Improvement:
- The health and safety policy should be readily accessible to all employees.
- Employees must know where to obtain information chemicals used in the workplace.
- Employees must be aware of accident reporting procedures.
- Employees must know how to obtain first aid assistance.
- Employees must know where to find emergency equipment.
- The company must have an up-to-date safety manual.
- Install a dedicated safety bulletin board for employees to have access to pertinent safety information.
- Safety information should be regularly provided to employees via different means.
- Safety warning signs should be conspicuously posted as needed.
- Safety committee meeting minutes should be maintained and readily available to employees.
- Safety and health goals and supporting objectives must be effectively communicated to all employees.
- Injury/illness data should be regularly reported to employees.
- Hazard control procedures must be effectively communicated to potentially affected employees.
- Safety inspections findings should be posted for all employees to see.
INSTRUCT
Employees should be alarmed if they see untrained workers operating machinery, equipment, or using tools. Knowledge is the foundation of a sound and sustainable safety system. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to provide training required by the OSHA standards based on the exposure to certain hazards.
Score:
Management must provide safety instruction to employees. Management responsibilities. Employees may not understand the hazards to which they may be exposed.
Recommendations for Improvement:
- Every employee must be adequately trained in safety procedures for the specific hazards in their work area.
- Applicable health and safety information must ne provided during new hire orientation.
- Supervisors must provide one-on-one safety instructions specific to a new employee's job function.
- Employees must be trained in what to do in all type of emergencies.
- Employees must be informed of the personal protective equipment that they are required to wear on the job.
- Management must receive a higher level of safety training than the non exempt employees.
- Managers should attend and participate in the health and safety training of their employees.
- Create an organized safety and health training program.
- Employee health and safety training must cover all applicable OSHA- required standards.
- Employees must be trained in the use of emergency equipment that they are expected to use.
- Supervisors must receive all required OSHA training applicable to their work environment.
- Managers must receive all required OSHA training applicable to their work environment.
- Supervisor training should cover the supervisory aspects of their health and safety responsibilities.
- Employees who conduct safety inspections must be properly trained in hazard identification applicable to the operation they will be inspecting.
- Employees involved in accident investigations are trained in conducting root-cause analysis of accidents.
INSPECT
Management must set the expectations, and then inspect what they expect. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to recognize hazards to employees and provide them a workplace that is free from those recognized hazards.
Score:
Management is likely not conducting regular physical safety inspections of the workplace. Written safety reports and corrective actions are likely not taking place.
Recommendations for Improvement:
- Conduct regular documented health and safety inspections.
- Review Job Safety Analysis annually.
- In addition to conducting safety inspections perform behavior observations.
- An outside safety expert should be bought in every 1-5 years to conduct a comprehensive wall-to-wall inspection.
- Whenever introducing new processes, materials and equipment ensure they are analyzed for hazards.
- Regularly evaluate your health and safety training.
- Evaluate or test knowledge and skills after conducting safety training.
INVESTIGATE
Management must audit their systems (health and safety, environmental and post injury). They should thoroughly look into every accident and near miss for the root cause. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to conduct through accident investigations.
Score:
Management needs to regularly audit the safety system and thoroughly investigate accidents and near misses for root cause.
Recommendations for Improvement:
- Conduct formal documented accident investigations.
- Conduct safety audits of the safety system in a fact-finding cooperative matter.
- Investigate all accidents and near misses for root causes.
- Effectively analyze hazard incidence data.
- Monitor hazard controls to ensure effectiveness.
- Annually review OSHA-mandated programs to ensure they are current.
- Annually review the entire health and safety system.
- Management needs to respond to reports of hazards with corrective action and in a timely fashion.
INTERVENE
Corrective action must be initiated promptly when serious safety and health hazards are discovered. People must follow established workplace safety procedures. Discipline is a form of respect so if employees are not following safety procedures there must be held accountable. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to discipline employees who fail to adhere to established safety policies and rules.
Score:
Management needs to conduct audits and issue discipline to help support the process of change in the organization. Hazard control is seriously lacking or absent from this establishment. Accountability may be lacking. When there is no accountability this means there is no safety system.
Recommendations for Improvement:
- Safety and health hazards must be fixed in a timely fashion.
- Corrective action must be initiated based on health and safety inspection reports.
- The company should remove substandard parts.
- Corrective actions must be taken to either eliminate or control conditions that can lead to accidents. Look for hazards associated with machinery, equipment, tools, operations, the physical plant, and at-risk behaviors.
- Employees behavior should be observed and appropriate feedback is provided.
- Managers must personally intervene in the safety behavior of other employees.
- Managers must consistently and strictly enforce health and safety rules.
- Develop an effective hazard reporting system.
- Assign health and safety tasks specifically to a person or position for performance or coordination.
- Develop and document formal safety and health rules.
- Develop an accountability mechanism for each assignment of safety and health responsibility.
- Create a Post Injury Management System that will assist injured employees in the event they have a work related injury.
- Conduct regular audits of the safety system.
- Ensure progressive discipline is issued for all safety infractions.
- Ensure that safety-related specifications are included in all purchase orders for new equipments and materials.
INFLUENCE
People must be motivated to perform in a certain way. Employees should be recognized for their safety achievements and rewarded much like a sales person is recognized and rewarded for reaching a sales quota. Incentives help put a spotlight on safety and help reinforce its importance in an organization. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA does not expect or require companies to have safety incentives programs and actually may frown on a company that does because sometimes these programs can lead to under reporting of accidents. However, if the safety system is exceptional and the company can demonstrate that employees are not under reporting accidents, OSHA should be OK.
Score:
Management has some work to do to create an exceptional safety incentive program. Management must commit to a safety incentive program that recognizes and rewards employees for their safety achievements.
Recommendations for Improvement:
- Management's commitment to the safety incentive program must be evident.
- Each employee must be held accountable for their safety performance and it should be included in the company's performance evaluation for employees.
- Positive safety acts should be rewarded.
- Employees should be recognized for their safety accomplishments' at company meetings and in front of large groups.
- Employees should appreciate and value their awards for safety. If not, go back to the drawing board and revise the program.
- Ensure that employees are recognized for meeting their safety and health responsibilities.
- Revised the safety incentive program so that it simply and easy for people to understand.
- Ensure that employees regularly received recognition for their safety conduct.
- Management must ensure they are recognizing the safe behavior of their employees by offering tangible awards.
INDICATE
What gets measured gets done. Management needs to be able to measure success and keep score with tangible, measurable metrics. Management should be aware of worker behavior that compromises safety such as poor housekeeping. From a regulatory compliance standpoint, OSHA expects companies to keep OSHA required records of work related injuries and illnesses.
Score:
Management has a marginal system for providing information on safety performance. Develop safety indicators and publish the results.
Recommendations for Improvement:
- Personal protective equipment must be effectively used 100% of the time as needed.
- Housekeeping must be properly maintained.
- The company should keep track of all near miss accidents.
- The company should benchmark safety performance against comparable industries.
- Supervisors must know whether their employees are meeting their health and safety responsibilities.
- Ensure that employees and managers alike truly understand the true cost benefits of accident prevention.
- Management must effectively analyze and communicate workplace injury/illness data.
- Conduct an annual health and safety evaluation of the workplace.
- Make injury and illness rates available to employees.