I Want To Make My Company Safe, Where Do I Begin?
It is often said the journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step. When beginning an initiative to “improve safety”, what is that first step? History, organizational culture and management commitment are just some of the variables that affect the safety journey and where we might want to begin, but to begin we must above all else know where we want go. Steven Covey labels this “beginning with the end in mind” in his 7-Habits of Highly Effective People. While there is never an end to our safety journey, knowing where we want to ultimately be is essential for knowing where to begin.
Often organizations will try to define their ultimate safety objective as a goal or target measurement, such as a recordable rate below 1.0. Measurement is just one of the necessary components of a safety management system and by trying to establish how your organization will perform in each of the safety management system components will create an image of where you to “end up”, and thus help you figure out where to begin.
Safety Management System
The Safety Management System structure we model at Apogee EHS Group has 8 basic components. Five foundational components required to successfully support and enact the three safety program components.
Foundational Components
Commitment – Commitment at all levels that everything we do must be done safely and no person should ever be injured on the job
Strategy – Having a plan that addresses the administrative, strategic and tactical requirements for enacting a sustainable safety management system
Communication – Multi-media approach to communicating expectations and results that reaches all levels of an organization
Education – Multi-faceted training process to develop employee skills and knowledge required to achieve zero injuries
Measurement – Series of metrics that shows progress, evaluates performance and indicates if current path will lead toward ultimate goals
Safety Program Components
Incident Management – Response plan for dealing with the result of a breakdown in the Safety Management System (incident) and process for investigating cause of the breakdown and how to correct.
Hazard Control Programs – Specific rules, expectations and work practices required to work safely despite exposure to known hazards (safety and OSHA programs)
Work Practice Controls – General rules or expectations and work practices to work safely in non-routine situations or when new or unexpected hazards arise
This is a simple description of the Safety Management System components, but by imagining how and what your organization will look in each component area when you “arrive”, the steps ahead will become much clearer and priorities will emerge indicating the first steps of your journey.
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