Challenges to Improving Workplace Safety
The first stage in improving the level of safety in your workplace is to assess exactly where you are. This is your starting point. Then, you have to recognize the culture that exists in your organization and the factors that have created it. The culture is the sum of the experience, history, belief system, work practices of the people within the organization.Frequently within businesses there are opposing forces that compromise safety. We have to understand the inevitable conflict that arises between safety and output. We have to realize and accept that no organization is just in the business of being safe. Every company tries to meet two objectives. Firstly, keep the risks has low as reasonably practicable. Secondly, stay in business.
To improve the levels of safety, it often becomes necessary to cope with the forces that have a negative effect on safety. These forces may include time pressure, cost cutting, the single-minded pursuit of profits and indifference to hazards. So often, organizations look at the forces that are lined up against them and give up on improving safety or just pay lip service to it. Under these circumstances each organization gets the repeated accidents it deserves. As always, the losers are the members of staff who get injured or killed.
To improve levels of safety, all staff within the organization must be better informed. In other words, they understand and respect the hazards they face and are constantly reminded of the potential dangers in their workplace. This means that they will never forget the dangers around them.. They know the dangers without having to fall victim to them.
An improved level of safety is achieved by creating a safety information system that collects, analyzes and disseminates knowledge from “near hits” and other incidents. Of course, this can only be achieved when there is a reporting culture that promotes the collection of this sort of information. Generally speaking, staff members understand the need for this information in the interests of safety. Unfortunately, it also requires people to report their own mistakes, errors and lapses. Overcoming this barrier requires sound leadership and positive reinforcement for those people who report.
It is possible to institute a system which can include the confidentiality of the people who are reporting the “near hits” and incidents. Within the system it is vital that all aspects of blame are removed. Any blame direct or implied will ensure that reporting will be minimized. Removing the blame barrier can be a challenge.
The single most important component of an improved level of safety within the workplace, is the establishment of a greater degree of trust. Again, this is a substantial barrier for some organizations to overcome.
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..Two highway safety advocacy groups often bitterly at odds with the trucking industry honoredthe top safety executive at one of the nations largest truckload carriers signaling potential cooperation between forces that often have been at sharp odds with each other..The award fromCitizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and Parents against Tired Truckers suggeststrucking companies and advocacy groups divided over truck driver work rules may be willing to seek common groundas the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration works on sweeping safety regulations..The Truck Safety Coalition a partnership between PATT and CRASH presented its first Distinguished Safety Leadership Award to Don Osterberg senior vice president of safety driver training and security at Schneider National Green Bay Wis..Don has always pushed the industry envelope when it comes to safety on our nations highways said Jeff Burns a board member of both advocacy groups and national transportation counsel for the Truck Safety Coalition..Osterberg received the award June 1 at the Sleep Apnea Trucking Conference an event co-sponsored by the American Trucking Associations and the FMCSA..The coalition lauded Osterberg for leading safety initiatives at Schneider including the installation of speed governors and electronic onboard recorders in all trucks and the screening of all truck drivers for sleep apnea..Fatigue-related crashes have dropped by 27 percent and the fatal crash rate has dropped by 59 percent at Schneider under Dons leadership said Burns. To top it off hes done this while hes saved the company money Burns said..Through his leadership there is now absolute hard solid proof that safety need not be sacrificed to promote productivity..Burns said he hoped the award would prove a watershed in the strained relations between the Truck Safety Coalition and the trucking industry..The coalition has a long history of struggle with the ATA and FMCSA over truck driver hours of service rules.
Nice safety blog, it motivated my own safety blob on improving performance. Thanks
Hi Tony
Thanks for your encouragement. Check out my latest article in the current issue of “Safeguard Magazine”
Regards
Peter
I think safety-training classes are necessary in the workplace. Emergencies and disasters cannot always be prevented, but workers can always be trained to properly respond effectively.
Safety DVDs
Thanks for your comment. I totally agree with one proviso and that is that the training programs can produce the correct behaviour in an emergency. My experience is that most training safety training programs are ineffective. The results don’t justify the cost because they are designed poorly. No one is going to change behaviour as the result of a one or two day training program.