Safety Awareness

I am looking for ideas on how to make safety a priority in our company. What ways are you creating an awareness to safe practices when common sense seems to be a thing of the past? And how are you making the changes effective in your company?

Michelle - I think it's fantastic you are wanting to place a more focused plan on safety. One starting point is looking at your history: are there any accidents or injuries that have happened more often than others? Then, get your teams involved. Ask them what safety measures they recommend or ask if they have noticed anything in the office or on the property that strikes them as a possible hazard. By identifying some potential issues, you can create some safety tips or solutions for these items and incorporate them into team meetings. Your human resources department may have some additional resources to help you. Sometimes we just need to be reminded about things like the proper way to lift something (lift with your knees, not your back), or how to properly position the height of your chair in front of a computer screen, or ladder safety (use the buddy system). Or sometimes we need to implement more comprehensive programs like a monthly or quarterly safety walk, to identify potential trip hazards, broken fences/gates/doors, branches that need to be trimmed back, ensuring all walkways are properly lit at night, etc.

Your corporate insurance broker is a great resource for a lot of safety training resources. Most Workers Compensation, Property and General Liability insurance carriers (or larger agencies) offer free on-site training, videos, employee communications, break room posters, etc. Since insurance carriers monitor claims nationwide, they know how, when and where most common workplace accidents occur. It's in their best interest to help you make your community safer for employees and residents. If you like, I can provide you some free resources such as safety manual templates, payroll stuffers, etc. Just reply to this post and let me know.

Jim,
I would be very interested in any free resources you have that I can look at to see if it may work for what I am trying to accomplish. Thank you so much!

Jen,
Thank you for your advice. I will be taking all of your ideas into consideration as I prepare for my workshops. Thanks!