More Is Not Always Better – 8/22/22

Safety E-QuickTips

U.S. Compliance Systems, Inc.

Monday Aug 22, 2022

More Is Not Always Better

Over the years I’ve been asked to look over different companies’ safety programs. Some have been as little as 10 pages while others had hundreds of pages, but there was one that I’ll never forget.

When I first looked at the program index, it looked like any other very comprehensive safety program. In fact, it looked similar to the one we provide to our clients.

But as I began to go through each section of the program, I realized that almost half of the pages were various checklists.

But these weren’t your ordinary safety checklists.

They were page upon page of various safety questions on every topic you could imagine. I even found one checklist with 12 pages to complete, and I believe each one was in smaller print than what you are reading now.To top it off, the first line on almost all of them read, “Complete at the beginning of each work shift.”

OK, I am firm believer in documenting workplace safety, but this was over the top.I’m not exactly sure how anyone was supposed to get any work done because the paperwork alone would take a day to complete.

I may be exaggerating a bit on the day to complete, but it would have taken hours.

So, I asked the guy I was reviewing the program for, “How do you keep track of all the completed paperwork?”

His answer, “We’ve never used this program.”

So, I asked him why.

“It was just too much.”

I was shocked. Well, not really.

To make it even worse he told me that they had worked with a safety consultant for months developing this program.

If you have tried to develop, implement and maintain an ongoing safety program at your company, you’ve probably realized it’s not easy.

With everything else that needs to be done to keep a business moving forward in today’s fast paced market, finding the time, the buy-in from management and employees, and the required support it takes to keep a safety program going is difficult to say the least.

So, what do you do?

Why not start out with the basics of safety and build from there? Here are four steps that you can build from.

1. Establish company safety policies and procedures

2. Effectively communicate the policies and procedures to your employees

3. Perform regular and frequent jobsite safety inspections

4. Employ consistent enforcement or reinforcement procedures

By using these four steps to develop, implement and maintain your program, you have a program that includes structure, education, responsibility, and accountability.

What more could you want from a company safety program?

As I said above, it’s not easy to develop, implement and maintain an ongoing safety program, so keep it as simple as possible and keep your checklist short and to the point. Definitely not 12 pages long and in fine print.

Don’t overthink these four steps, always keep each one as simple as possible to keep them effective in Protecting Your Company’s Most Valuable Assets: Employees . . . Reputation . . . Profits.

Employee QuickTip

What do a ladder that’s too short to do the job, a safety guard removed from a piece of equipment and an open hole in the floor of a work area have in common? They all could send you to the hospital instead of home at the end of the day. Watch out for hazards in the workplace.

Employer/Management QuickTip

When developing your company safety program, think of it as a resource guide. Make sure you include information on how employees should protect themselves from hazards created by the work they perform and hazards they may be exposed to that are created by other companies you may be working with or around.

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Thanks for Reading and Please – Stay Healthy and Work Safe.