Your golf course's safety protocols fell short. How will you bounce back and ensure staff protection?

Tempo x Recursos x Classifica??o = Plano de A??o para eliminar os riscos potenciais. Tempo: Verificar o tempo de conclus?o da mitiga??o dos riscos ocupacionais. Observando prazos para execu??o e m?o de obra aplicada na atividade de prote??o. Recursos: Verificar e analisar com os recursos existentes na organiza??o a diminui??o do tempo. Exemplo: materiais necessários, m?o de obra especializada e capacidade dos envolvidos. Classifica??o: Alem de avaliar os possíveis riscos encontrados, desenvolver uma sistemática de pontua??o para verificar a pontua??o dos riscos, como: Gravidade, Probabilidade, Tempo de exposi??o, Limites de exposi??o, repeti??es, históricos de acidentes, mecanismos de prote??o já existentes e etc.

To address and improve our golf course's safety protocols, we will: Conduct a Thorough Review: Assess current protocols to identify weaknesses. Implement Training: Provide comprehensive safety training for all staff. Upgrade Equipment: Ensure all safety equipment meets the latest standards. Enhance Communication: Improve communication channels for reporting hazards. Regular Audits: Conduct regular safety audits to maintain high standards. Engage Experts: Consult safety experts for ongoing improvements.

Finding that safety is lacking provides a great opportunity for improvement. Conducting a thorough hazard assessment that clearly states possible hazards and plans to eliminate/control the hazard is a great step. Including employees in this process is key to success as employees typically have more insight. In addition, the inclusion communicates a collaborative and responsive effort rather than finding blame.

A great place any such risk assessment is to engage employees. They are at the front lines. They know what works and what doesn’t work. Talk to them. Take the opportunity to learn about how the environment influences their work and safety. One other thing you need to do is to review previous assessments. Check its robustness. Are the controls in place as described in the risk assessment? If yes are they effective as planned.

And even when safety protocols are not “lacking”, it is imperative to conduct things like safety surveys & form safety committees. These two elements can form the foundation of maintaining & presenting a safe golf course. The safety survey must be an objective and honest assessment of areas where potential risks exist or hazardous conditions exist. & then coming up with a realistic and objective plan of how to mitigate these risks are some of the first steps in overcoming these risks.

You also need an assurance system to able to monitor the effectiveness of the updated policies/procedure/ arrangement/controls. In most cases, people fail to do this. Keeping a close eye on and health checking what has been introduced, is one of the most important proactive measures to prevent recurrence of the event we are trying to avoid

A very good way to ensure that policies and procedures are ever evolving is to create a safety committee that is made up of all the different departments at a facility. Involving all the different departments can go a long way in providing fresh perspectives. & hopefully by offering some perspectives from the other departments, can create a much more objective perspective. We all need to be cognizant that safety is a journey not a destination.

Neglecting risk assessments for safety equipment will destroy morale. It’s important to critically assess every task and ensure the proper PPE is selected. Taking ownership of falling short is also important. Leadership shall not be reactive and improve to become responsive in terms of safety. Training is also key as misuse of the proper equipment defeats the purpose. When all is said and done, it’s beneficial to periodically reassess with a continuous improvement mindset.

One thing I have found helpful when it comes procuring equipment for employees is to consider the needs of the employees. Think about how the worker is expected relate with the equipment. Does it introduce any additional hazards or risk to him? If so how do you manage that with the hierarchy of control in mind .

To be truly effective this monitoring needs to be all across the board. And while management needs to be the impetus, those performing the tasks day in and day out can often the first set of eyes regarding breaches in safety protocols. Getting buy in at all levels is one of the best ways to create that “culture of safety”.

Some ways to get employee buy-in are to make the training processes more fun! This may sound silly, but we all learn & retain more when the process is not viewed as a burden! Using various training methods & making a serious subject like safety more of a part of the overall training process and engaging makes the training process a lot more palatable to employees. Finally, the training sessions should be interactive to get employees more actively involved in the training process.

As they say, when in doubt, train it out! There is no such thing as too much training. Creating a training matrix and identifying areas that require more frequent refreshers is very helpful.

Open communication is critical for fostering a strong safety culture. If employees fear retaliation due to speaking up, management has an uphill battle and must critically assess their own behaviors to determine the root cause of the mistrust.

The golf course managers should communicate often the mandatory safety precautions via emails , pamphlets , circulars , to not only the staff but also the players who I am sure would not only appreciate but also would cooperate to spread the safety awareness.

This is very true. One thing that promotes positive culture is when management are seen to follow the rules themselves. Management are humble enough to accept when employees point out when they themselves are not acting safely. I think it’s called psychological safety. The point here is, safety culture is at its peak when employees visibly participate and promote safety actions in the workplace but it all starts with management commitment to safety.