subject: Safety Training Promotes Safety Awareness [print this page] According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the workplace must address contemporary safety and health management issues in order to reduce workplace hazards, promote a culture of safety training and strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency within the infrastructure in a place of employment. Examining these issues can result in a better work environment, more positive statistical data and less fatalities, injuries and illnesses.
Review safety and health enforcement policies in the workplace
This type of program is most effective when an enforcement team is in place, according to OSHA. Enforcement includes inspecting the workplace and issuing write-ups for safety and health management standards not being met.
Review priority safety and health risks and hazards in the workplace
Safety and health management issues include:
Reports of dangers
Severe accidents
Complaints from employees
Whistle-blowers' activities, and
Individual areas of concern
According to OSHA, upon review, these issues must be addressed, which will then lead to eliminating workplace risks and hazards. Investigate accidents, complaints, and other areas of concern, take notes, interview witnesses, and keep a file on any decisions or outcomes resulting from the investigation.
Maximize employee training's
During employee safety training sessions, allow workers to comment on areas of the workplace they feel could be safer and consider their suggestions. When there is time, engage employees in a discussion about this topic. If there is not enough time, have them fill out a survey to be reviewed at a later date.
Measure every department's safety and health problem's outcomes and solution effectiveness. A workplace should keep records of all on-site injuries and relevant illnesses in a timely manner in order to examine reoccurring trends. When trends are spotted, management should investigate what is causing harm or an illness and seek to eliminate the source.
Use on-site safety and health-management consultation programs
A consultation program can help abusiness examine, identify and correct hazards. The consultants can also help establish a more effective safety and health management system.
Creating an on-site training team will help to promote healthy and safe practices in the workplace which will result in reports on all risks and hazards to management.
Monitor contemporary safety and health issues in the field. This will help managers be better aware of newinjuryprevention techniques and trends, using best practices.
Inspect the work-site often. No matter how many policies, procedures, training or safety teams are in place, the most thorough examination of contemporary safety and health management issues is not complete without physical inspections of a workplace.
