Great safety culture is a valuable asset for every business, workplace, and organization. It can cut down the cost of accidents, injuries, or ill health that might occur as a result of work activities, increases employee happiness, and grow the overall company.
Humans by nature are highly influenced by their environment and those around them. When entering a new workplace, individuals are likely to adapt to their surroundings rather than go against them.
So, if an organization or workplace has good safety and health incorporated within its business, it is more like to see that its workers feel productive, safe, and active while at work.
On contrary, if a workplace or its employers does not pay any attention to the safety culture there is a high risk of workplace accidents and staff turnover.
Therefore, employers need to engage their workforce to promote a safe culture at work for everyone.
What Does Safety Culture Mean?
Safety culture establishes the ownership of safety throughout the business at every stage. It ensures health and safety within the business, workplace, or organization and the attitude of the workforce towards it.
It is all about the mindset of business owners, companies, and their employees that help them understand how their values and beliefs influence the safety and health procedures within their work environment.
Safety culture within the workplace is not just about being compliant with the health and safety policy, but also about employees’ approach to the said policy.
Why Is a Positive Safety Culture Important?
Being an employer, if you are responsible for the safety of your staff members, then it is your legal and moral duty to ensure their health and wellbeing are protected from any kind of workplace hazard.
Incorporating a safety culture within the workplace will have a very noticeable effect on how the safety and health strategies have been implemented within the workplace. Just implementing safety procedures is not enough to ensure a safe workplace for all, it is also important for both employers and their staff to follow these rules, procedures, and policies regularly.
According to a study, there are nearly 1.7 million people who die every year due to work-related illnesses, ill health, accidents, or injuries. These accidents could result in a high cost to businesses, decrease employees’ productivity, increase staff turnover, and destroy a business’s reputation.
Therefore, creating a positive work culture where everyone takes an active part to ensure everyone’s safety is an ideal place to grow the business altogether and comply with the health and safety legislation.
Establishing a Workplace Safety Culture for Everyone
Creating and maintaining a durable and effective safety culture is an intentional process that requires everyone’s active involvement to meet the goals of a safe workplace for all.
This includes the following steps to establish a safe work environment:
1. Involve the Team
The first step in creating a safe workplace is involving everyone in the process, every individual within the workplace is responsible. Therefore, employers must involve all the team members in planning and implementing the processes and safety procedures.
2. Report Issues
Reporting the issues for any kind of hazard, accident, or incident is also a key step in establishing and maintaining a safe workplace for all. Employers must encourage practices among staff to report any issue or concern regarding safety and reward those who follow the guidelines.
3. Communication is the Key
Effective communication is the foremost thing in creating a safe culture for all at work. Opening up the lines of communication between the safety and operational teams is a great way to identify and report any health concerns effectively within the workplace.
4. Promote Continuous Improvement
Consistent and continuous improvement is also one of the effective steps in developing a safe culture within the workplace. It helps employer and their staff take vital steps to control and mitigate the chances of accidents, incidents, ill health, and injuries.
These are some of the vital steps to engage your workforce and create a safe workplace for all to work.
Health & Safety Training for Staff
Along with the above steps mentioned, there are other things that employers can do to ensure safety for everyone. Adequate training is one of them, there are numerous safety training courses that they can opt for, for their staff. Some of the vital training courses include IOSH managing safely, working at height training, confined space training, near miss reporting training, fire safety training, first aid training, and many more like these.
Final Words
There is no such word as an ideal and secure workplace for everyone to work in unless employers have best safety practices and procedures in place to identify, control, and mitigate them to prevent their workers.
This blog post is a detailed explanation of what it takes to create a positive workplace for individuals to work in, and how employers can engage their personnel to get health and safety to their optimum.
