A Culture of Safety

By Mark Ward

Safety is a familiar concept to us all. We read safety reports before we buy a car, instruct our children to wear bicycle helmets?and buckle our seat belts in the car. We are surrounded by safety labels on everything from plastic bags to hair dryers. But how often do we talk about safety in our workplace, where we spend one-third of our adult lives?

The answer to this question is?not often enough. Data shows that each year an average of 3 million people in private industry face some kind of injury as a result of their jobs. In many industries, injury costs can exceed profit in a given year.

At its core, workplace health and safety has four essential parts:

1. Culture - the values, assumptions, norms?and everyday behaviors of an organization’s people
2. Compliance - meeting mandated regulatory standards
3. Risk Management - processes to better identify risk and to control exposures
4. Governance - establishing controls by which an organization can validate and ensure compliance standards and policies

To truly create lasting change, organizations must create an environment in which safety is more than just a box to be checked?but is an attitude that makes up the very foundation of the company and is upheld by everyone from frontline workers to senior management.

Read more here.

More Safety News of Note:

• 4 Tips to Find Calm in a Busy Season of Life
• Total Worker Health is Coming of Age
• Top 10 OSHA Violations of 2024

This newsletter was written and produced by Managing Editor Nicole Stempak. If you have any questions, suggestions or ideas, please add them in the comments below.

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