Developing an effective and sustainable safety and health culture within your organization has the single greatest impact on injury reduction. For this reason, developing a safety culture should be a top priority for all businesses. Nearly 50 American workers are injured every minute of the 40-hour work week, while about only 30% of businesses have a established safety and health program. In a strong safety culture, everyone feels responsible for safety and pursues it on a daily basis. In-turn it reduces the extent and severity of work related injuries and illnesses, enables you to better comply with regulations and other requirements, improve employee morale and productivity and reduce workers’ compensation costs. Over time the norms and beliefs of the organization shift focus from eliminating hazards to proactively building systems that improve safety and health conditions.
The first step to having a successful safety and health culture is being able to sell your safety point. Below are 7 Steps to Packaging A Winning Safety Point:
Step 1. Establish Credibility
Step 2. Identify the Problem
Step 3. Research Solutions
Step 4. Identify and Remove Barriers
Step 5. Strategize! Strategize! Strategize!
Step 6. Presentation: Sell Your Safety Point
Step 7. Follow-up: Patience and Persistence