Developing A Health and Safety Program

By Gary Ganson, Certified Industrial Hygienist, Certified Safety Professional

EHS Group Manager, Environmental
Terracon
Lenexa, Kansas

Where to Begin?

Last month’s column focused on the importance of health and safety compliance and the all the resources that were available to help businesses, particularly small ones, meet their obligations to keep their workers safe. Compliance begins with commitment and a health and safety program tailored to fit the company, to blend with its unique operations and culture and to help employers maintain a system that continually addresses a focus on prevention of workplace injuries and illnesses. Every effective program should include management commitment and leadership, employee involvement, workplace analysis, hazard prevention and control, safety and health training and performance goals and measurement.

When OSHA comes in to evaluate your company, one of the first things they look for is a written health and safety program along with training documentation and MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets), if applicable. But I never tell a client we’re creating a health and safety program just to be OSHA compliant, we’re creating the program because it’s the right thing to do. It’s also a good return on investment because preventing employee injuries saves the company money. Particularly for small or newer companies, avoiding downtime can make the difference in whether the company survives.

The Team

The larger the firm, the easier it is to designate a health and safety officer. The smaller the company and the fewer the employees, the easier it is for health and safety measures to be overlooked or missed.

Responsibility for employee safety always rests at the top with the owner or manager, but typically it is the first line supervisor who is most capable of keeping workers safe. They have direct day to day contact with the workers, and they need to be aware of what resources and tools are available. However, the safest companies are those where employers and employees work together to make safety and health a priority and a responsibility equal with production and quality.

This partnership can be achieved by involving employees in health and safety policymaking, committees and posting the company’s written safety and health policy for all to see. Management should show its commitment by investing time, effort and money in the company’s safety and health program, abide by all safety and health rules and hold regular meetings that focus on employee health and safety.