Making Safety Important In Your Workplace

Safety is important everywhere we go, but making safety important in your workplace can be one of the best things that you can do for your business and for your employees.Many companies talk about cultivating a culture of safety.They even go so far as having a giant sign that says how long they have been without an accident and to post signs about what safety equipment is required for where.Most of these companies are actually working to create a culture of safety and will impose sanctions against those who flaunt the rules.There are some companies who preach safety, but never impose the rules or have a culture that frowns on following safety regulations - real men don't wear hard hats or there isn't enough money in the budget for a respirator so just open up a window when you paint that plane.Those companies are not only a disgrace to the basic fiber of human decency and to themselves; they are a disgrace to all corporations everywhere.

Safety in a company allows employees to feel safe, and since they work there for at least eight hours every day, it is important to their mental well-being to feel safe.More than that, it is important to their physical well-being and the company's bottom line.Employees who are ill are not an asset to the business.They create strain as others in the work area have to pick up the slack, or worse they come in to work ill and make everyone else sick while doing so.
If an employee is worried about being hurt or getting someone else hurt, he or she will be paralyzed in his or her actions.The employee will constantly be checking to make sure that things are safe, and he or she will not be able to rely the other employees or management to help with that responsibility.Worse, when people get hurt on the job, workers' compensation and health insurance premiums go up and people use sick days, which limits company profitability.
It is important to stress safety in every meeting.Some companies have a safety minute where someone, most likely the person in charge of health and wellness or in charge of disaster preparation, gets up and talks about an important part of safety.Some companies include a safety minute in the company newsletter.Signs are also helpful.
However, the most helpful thing a company can have to create a culture of safety is the backing of upper management with no wink, wink, nudge, nudge, and that is where it gets tricky.Because communication is not just words, some people can say one thing and mean the exact opposite.By talking about safety but letting safety violations slide, management is really saying that they are delivering a message that they are required to deliver because the lawyer says it is a good idea, but we think it is an inconvenience and a waste of time, so carry on.This type of double talk needs to be eliminated from all management messages.
Safety should be everyone's priority.Whether working with hazardous chemicals or under hazardous conditions, safety keeps people on the job and keeps the company profitable.Without the proper safety equipment and culture, the company risks lawsuits and lost man hours and that means a smaller bottom line.Some people believe that safety measures are affront to their manhood or their capabilities, but they need to realize that in the hospital there are no men only patients who may or may not recover from whatever it is that they are suffering.