Following on from our blog post at the start of the year, we look at 3 more methods that you can use which will improve your workplace culture to ensure that health and safety is viewed positively by everyone.
At the start of the year we blogged about enhancing the safety culture in the workplace – 3 Ways to Improve Your Safety Culture at Work – and this week we are back with 3 more!
One of the biggest barriers to poor health and safety is negative attitudes towards it.
If health and safety isn’t seen in a positive light and something that everyone should take an interest in then policies and procedures won’t be effective. This puts everyone at risk from employees, members of the public and management and directors who can even face imprisonment for health and safety failings.
So, what are 3 more ways to improve safety culture in the workplace?
#1 Use Positive Reporting of Incidents
In some workplaces reporting safety breaches and incidents is viewed negatively.
It means more work for certain members of staff, can show the business in a bad light and in the end employee’s feel like they shouldn’t report these incidents to management or senior staff for fear of reprisal.
Fostering a culture at work that is positive and allows employees to feel that reporting health and safety issue won’t result in being reprimanded and will actually make a difference will create a safer working environment for everyone.
#2 Train, Train, Train
We keep talking about this here at Project Skills Solutions but that’s because it is true.
Ensuring that your staff get the proper health and safety training and know how to avoid accidents or what to do if there is a safety incident will go a long way to improving safety culture at work.
Training shouldn’t be a one-off thing either. In fact, health and safety training should be an ongoing process. Continually taking part in training to learn new things or to refresh your brain is key to a safe workplace.
#3 Reward safe working behaviour
An interesting strategy that some companies are implementing is to reward safe working behaviour.
These reward schemes take many different forms and most reward workers for working safely over a defined period of time. Some also offer incentives for reporting safety issues or coming up with solutions to health and safety problems.
If a reward system is implemented in a timely, significant and consistent manner then the entire safety culture at work can be improved and employees should take a more proactive approach to health and safety.
Improving the Safety Culture at Work
You can have all the safety policies and procedures in place however if your workplace doesn’t have a positive view of safety then they are unlikely to be effective.
We looked at 3 ways to improve the safety culture at work before. With creating a positive reporting process, ensuring that effective training is delivered on an ongoing basis to staff as well as implementing a reward scheme then your staff should treat safety even more importantly then they already do.
Health and safety doesn’t have to be a negative thing and with a solid and positive strategy, it can turn any workplace into a much safer one.
