How can organizations improve employee participation in safety management? Frontline employees often aren’t participating in safety management at the level we’d like them to be because the truth is, they just aren’t engaged enough to want to participate more. Or when they’ve participated in the past, they’ve been met with negative criticism from colleagues for reporting hazards. Behavior-based safety management has taught us we can always improve the conditions in which positive reinforcements and behaviors can thrive.
Getting employees more engaged in safety management and encouraging them to participate more requires EHS leaders to double down on the positive reinforcement. Next time you’re out in the field and you see a worker practicing safe behavior, acknowledge and recognize it. Better yet, create a peer acknowledgement program so colleagues can instantly recognize each other with photos of safe behavior. The more positive reinforcement we give to our employees, the more they’ll feel valued and the more they’ll want to contribute and participate in our safety management programs.
When you’re running a health and safety program across dispersed job sites or frequent shift work, communication can be tough. Exacerbating this challenge is the dependence many EHS departments still have upon paper-based or “Microsoft heavy” (Excel, PowerPoint, Word) processes.
A big problem with paper is that it can’t provide immediate feedback to employees, and results in a delayed one-way flow of information making the front-line workforce feel unheard and worse, makes safety tasks feel “administrative”.
To effectively increase participation in your safety management program, make it as easy as possible for your employees to participate. Consider simplifying your inspection process by using technology to take paper out of the equation entirely, for example implementing fire extinguisher barcode inspection software. Not only will moving your forms online make it easier for employees to complete them, you can ensure you’re getting more accurate EHS data and can follow-up and provide feedback to a worker as soon as the data enters your system. What better way to drive participation across your workforce than with the single greatest engagement tool of the last 30 years, a purpose-built mobile app?
The reality for many EHS professionals is that we still struggle to secure buy-in for new safety initiatives at the executive level. Unfortunately, this has been the case because safety performance hasn’t been regularly measured and shared with management, or if it has, it hasn’t been framed with the company’s larger goals in a way that resonates at the C-level.
To bolster participation on the frontlines, EHS leaders must first demonstrate to executives that increasing participation will not only improve safety performance – they must go a step further and show how high levels of participation will benefit the business as a whole from a company mission and productivity standpoint.
IMEC Technologies provides Safety Management Software to increase worker safety and aid compliance. IMEC’s Safety Management Software will manage inspections and audits, provides hazard identification, incident reporting, management of corrective and preventative actions from generation to closure. IMEC provides lock out tag out software solutions that will allow users to create lockout tagout procedures using an intuitive Mobile App and Manage Lockout Tagout Procedures, also the Review and Execution of those Lockout Tagout Procedures using the Mobile App. Annual Lockout Tagout Procedures audits are conducted using a Mobile App. The Mobile Inspection App allow users to perform inspections and audits, for example the system can be used as a Fire Extinguisher Barcode Inspection Software system to manage monthly fire extinguisher inspections and general fire safety inspections and also to record safety observations and manage corrective actions, anywhere and anytime. The solution can be used as a fire extinguisher barcode inspection software system or life safety inspection system to aid compliance in Higher Education, Healthcare, Industrial and Commercial Organizations. Benefits from a Fire Extinguisher Barcode System include the elimination of paperwork and reducing the burden of compliance with regulations such as NFPA, The Joint Commission. The Incident Reporting App allows users to easily and quickly report incidents, hazards and near-misses, these are then sent to the appropriate people for action and are managed to closure. Web Apps provide features such as, setup, management, scheduling tools, analysis, reporting and dashboards etc with the ability to report incidents to government bodies such as OSHA and RIDDOR. HazMat T&T is a hazardous waste management software solution designed for Environmental Service Companies and companies who generate a large quantity of hazardous waste. The solution tracks hazardous waste from cradle to grave aiding compliance, providing accurate waste inventory, increasing waste handling efficiency, reducing risk and also helps manage waste costs. HazMat T&T Hazardous Waste Management Software can be deployed in a number of deployment scenarios, from Large Hazardous Waste Generators, tracking their hazardous waste at their site to Environmental Service and Waste Management Companies using it track and manage hazardous waste at transfer and disposal sites. For more information visit our website www.imectechnologies.com