Employers across all industries have a responsibility to manage and improve workplace safety to ensure the safety of their employees. However, to ensure that a workplace is safe it needs to be more than just a legal requirement, it needs to be a business priority and ingrained with the culture of the organization.
By implementing the following 4 strategies can help organizations to improve workplace safety.
Ensure you have comprehensive formal training and procedures in place:
Are your policies and procedures documented? It’s imperative for all employees to have immediate access to safety policies and procedures.
Are your employees competent? As an employer, it’s important to take the time to properly train new and existing employees. Competency profiles should be maintained for all employees/ This is now a standard requirement under ISO9001:2015.
Are your employees informed? It’s one thing to know how to operate a machine; however, employees must also know what to do or how in particular situations, situations that are not the norm, as this is where the risk of accident is highest.
Show that there is buy in from the senior executive team:
Management buy-in is a critical element to improve workplace safety as without it there is no real commitment. Employees quickly see that this commitment is missing, and the result is that they don’t have the interest or motivation to follow safe work procedures. The follow-on result from this is that the safety program becomes redundant. It is critical that the management team lead by example, demonstrating their commitment to ensuring that a safer workplace is created for all.
The management team must deliver the message that a safe workplace is a key business objective, showing its value to the business and its employees. The goals of the safety program must be clearly communicated to all with regular updates on progress given to all employees.
Create a culture of open and regular communication:
Open and regular communication throughout an organization is a critical element to a successful safety program, it motivates employees to give their opinions regarding workplace safety. It shows employees that their employer really cares about their safety.
Regular employee meetings such as weekly safety meetings act as a platform for open and easy communications where employees can voice their concerns and corrective actions can be allocated and managed.
Invest in Technology:
Improving workplace safety is not just about communicating, training and meeting certain standards, it also requires having the tools necessary to effectively run and manage a continuously improving safety program. This is where the use of technology can have a major impact. Using paper-based processes greatly limits the visibility that management have of safety performance as the time and effort involved in extracting relevant information is too long and labor intensive. Therefore, it doesn’t happen.
Technology such as safety management software gives management the tools to see what’s happening from a safety perspective at the click of a button, helping management to take corrective or preventative actions to improve workplace safety.
Implementing mobile apps to perform inspections and audits eliminates paper and collects this data in the field, quickly and accurately. This information can then be presented to management in dashboards, with email alerts notifying managers of missed or overdue inspections.
Incidents and accidents can be reported using mobile apps, which helps manage and reduce the number of workplace accidents.
Through the use of safety management software organizations can manage leading safety indicators thus reducing the number of accidents in the workplace.
Whether you’re working in a manufacturing plant, distribution center or an oil field, workplace safety should be a priority. Management should strive to continuously improve their safety program, not only to reduce the risk to their employees but also to help improve their overall business and bottom line.
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