While anyone can say they are safe on the job, the only way to ensure health and safety in a work environment is to have the full cooperation of all employees. By creating a well-defined safety program, a company can promote a safe work environment for all. It can also prevent major accidents that seriously injures or even kill workers.
Well-developed safety programs involves several different components that need to work together in order to be proactive. Many companies offer a reactive program and only respond to hazardous condition after something happens. A proactive system uses the proper training, education, and involvement of all personnel to continually identify areas that need improvement and create plans for making those improvements.
A good program follows the safety regulations by OSHA for workplace safety but also will include an analysis of a work-specific environment. Safety staff will always be evaluated the condition of the work environment for potential safety issues and thinking of ways to correct it. After accidents occur, the safety team members are again investigating what went wrong to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
All too often workers are at risk of injury or death because a company and its management does not actively promote workplace safety and have no plan in place to keep improving policies and procedures. Many employers ignore even the most basic health and safety protocol in an effort to save more money but in reality they lose profits when a worker is injured. Workers compensation costs and lawsuits put a serious dent in business both financially and productivity-wise. It is far wiser to implement and stay aggressive about health and safety rules in the workplace rather than be reactive and face the financial downfall of a business.