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Building a Safety-First Culture
One way to overcome this is to get the team involved. No one knows the risks of a job better than the workers on the ground, and implementing suggestions from members of the team across a job site will increase uptake and buy-in.
Second, communication is paramount. It’s essential that leadership convey a message that everyone is accountable for safety, not just designated employees. Beyond leading by example, managers need to evaluate every facet of a job for potential risks and build relationships with their employees so that those employees feel comfortable bringing forward potential safety issues.
Training practices should also be evaluated by managers to make sure they are both thorough and understood. On some job sites, workers are not trained in their native language or are not offered any training at all because a manager assumed they’d already done it. These are risks that are easily solved if a manager is asking the right questions.
This can all feel overwhelming for managers that don’t know where to start. For individuals with their own construction company, for example, it can feel impossible to focus on the nitty-gritty of safety training requirements when you’re also thinking about how to win and source manpower for projects. That’s where safety gets left behind.
If a culture exists where safety is understood as a shared responsibility, that burden becomes a lot lighter. Partnering with a consultant who knows how to handle safety situations inside and out can mitigate that weight even more and help organizations struggling with safety to get on the right track.
Safety Isn’t Just Good for People; It’s Good for Business
A change in safety culture won’t happen overnight, but if the foundation of training, communication and understanding is there, you’ll end up with an organization where both employees and management are competent and confident around all things safety.
Keeping up with safety standards can feel like a headache, but the payoff is profound. When you implement a strong safety culture, you can eliminate large amounts of injury risk and increase productivity for better client outcomes. Most importantly, you’ll lower incident rates, saving your organization money and far more importantly, potentially saving lives.
About the Author
Currently the Vice President of Safety at Charles Taylor, Troy Teepe is a versatile Safety Professional with vast experience in building safety programs and specializing in helping companies build a strong safety culture. In addition, Troy has conducted numerous trainings and inspections for employers in construction, manufacturing, healthcare, and general industry settings. He is a results-oriented safety professional who drives safety values through a practical, motivational, hands-on, and educational approach resulting in a reduction of lost time days.