Could you imagine what would happen if every place of business was staffed by people who actually knew the hazards in the workplace, how to avoid the hazards and how to work safely at all times?
A crucial part of a successful Safety/Health Management program is getting your employees on board. Much of your organization's success will depend on your employees' awareness and understanding of safety and health issues and their investment in helping you achieve your Safety and Health Management goals.
Everyone in your organization will benefit when they become aware of how small every day actions can significantly reduce exposure to hazards, decrease operating costs and increase competitiveness.
A tell two or tell ten program is one way to assure the safety and health issues that arise during regular self inspections, safety/health committee meetings, and the goals of the company for safety and health achievements are communicated to all employees. Safety and health committee members and or Safety Ambassadors are required to pick the most important topic of each meeting or inspection etc. and then go out and tell two or tell ten employees (depending on size of company) about the topic. Ideas for tell two/ten: Safety and Health Management Goals, Safety Ambassador Program, Reporting hazards, Reporting all incidents, not to block fire extinguishers, to use machine guards provided
Key Focus Areas of the Employee Awareness Plan: Our company will focus on these primary areas:
Educate the employees on hazard identification
Educate the employees on their responsibilities in areas of Safety and Health
Focus on reporting any and all hazards
Focus on correction of hazards at the source when identified (immediate action by employee)
Focus on visible employee involvement (Safety Ambassador Program)
Monitor work areas for hazards (Conduct regular self inspections)
Employee Awareness Tools
Establishing employee awareness involves informing, training and involving your employees in Safety and Health activities at your facility. Activities can include educating personnel about their responsibilities within the workplace to encouraging and recognizing employee suggestions. Some tools and examples of employee involvement are included below.
Tools for developing an Employee Awareness Program: What is "Employee Awareness"? - This article provides some examples of various employee awareness activities that generate employee commitment to Safety and Health.
Promoting Employee Awareness
“Three ‘self's’” are self-motivation, self-management, and self-awareness. Employees are urged to take a positive approach in their work through
(1) self-motivation: aggressively taking the initiative;
(2) self-management: taking care of one’s own business; and
(3) self-awareness: knowing one’s position, roles and surroundings.
We instill this spirit into our executives and employees to support our development as a World Class Company, in the belief that all of our executives and employees must exercise responsibility and self-discipline at all times and strive to maintain the highest standards of ethics and legal compliance.
Employee Awareness Paves the Way for Success
To achieve new levels of excellence in Safety and Health, our company has emphasized the human side of continuous improvement. Employee learning and development is a central focus for implementing its continuous improvement plan. A major part of the strategy is to increase the employees' awareness and teach them how to work safely and how to report hazards for correction
Measuring Your Success
Safety Awareness -- Being aware of conditions that affect health and a safe working environment.
Some jobs require people who know safety laws and regulations and recognize unsafe working conditions. Some jobs require people willing to act quickly to correct unsafe work habits and dangerous equipment or conditions.
Key Behaviors:
Shows awareness of safety and health laws and regulations.
Identifies and fixes potential safety problems.
Performs day-to-day work using regulated safety equipment.
Checks operation of safety equipment regularly.
Teaches new employees the safe way to do the job.
Demonstrates commitment to provide safe workplace for employees.
Identifies and resolves potential safety problems and unsafe work practices.
Incorporates accident prevention measures in all activities.
Informs employees of safety and health information.
Points out hazards and changed conditions when moving employee from one workplace to another.
Shows employees correct, safe way to perform each task.
Enforces adopted employee safety and health rules.
Identifies and informs supervisor of potential safety problems.
Uses appropriate protective equipment.
Performs tasks safely to avoid danger to self or co-workers.
Warns co-workers of potential hazards.
Author: Deborah Grow, Compliance Specialist, Private Safety Consultant
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