Safety Department

Quite often, a company’s safety department is considered a cost. A necessity that is a burden to the company. It appears to hinder production, slowing it down with added steps and regulations. And that’s just to maintain the current safety level.

That no longer has to be the case. Safety can be brought up to a level where it not only greatly reduces injuries and accidents, it also improves moral and production. It all starts with understanding where your company is in its safety journey and how to take the next step up.

Understanding the Safety Levels

There are roughly 4 different levels of safety a company can be in:

1. Safety is not a major concern for the company

They leave it to the employees to take care of themselves and don’t have any kind of proactive approach to being safe. They simply react to any events that happen and move on. Their focus is to maximize profits and minimize costs. They are not looking too far into the future, or simply have no money to work with towards safety. This is a dangerous level where a company can not only get heavily fined, but could cause serious damage to workers or equipment. 

2. Meeting minimum requirements. 

This level is not much better than the first level. A company at this point is still more concerned with costs than with safety. They blindly follow rules to avoid penalties. This should be the bare minimum for a company. At least a starting point. It should never be the goal they ultimately want to hit. 

3. Proactive on safety. 

Instead of blindly following rules, a company on this level will focus on safety aspects that apply specifically to their company. They’ll go above the minimum because they are concerned with the safety of their employees. They understand that the greater the safety, the better the bottom line. It’s no longer looked at as just a cost or annoyance, but an investment. 

 4. Behavior-based safety 2.0. 

This level helps the employees participate in their own safety which in many regulations is a basic Right. Here, workers are given positive reinforcement of their actions to make them feel like they are contributing to the overall welfare of fellow workers and the company. Employees at this level tend to take responsibility for overall safety and watch out for each other instead of leaving it entirely to the company and any safety personnel. It’s not about policing each other. It’s about having concern for your colleagues. In the BBS2.0 companies will also put in place action plans to improve safety that is based solely on the intent to do so, instead of reacting to past events. At this level, safety is part of the company culture. Increased production and moral are coupled with reduction of risk, medical leave and employee turnover. 

Proactive safety is planning. And that planning spreads out into other parts of the company including production, QA and QC.  

Make the Next Level Up Your Goal

The best way to move up to the next level in your safety journey is to switch to a software-based system, if you haven’t already. Software will help with planning and efficiency as pointed out in How EHS Software Can Increase Your Chances of OSHA Compliance.  

Often, the reason a company is ‘stuck’ at the safety level that it’s at, is because it’s reached the limit of a paper or spreadsheet-based system. If the company keeps growing, staying with paper or spreadsheets can often hinder the safety of the employees. And the costs can go up. 

Finding Your Safety Level

When we work with a new client, we first figure out where they are on their safety journey. We then make sure all of their OSHA requirements are handled. All forms specific to their safety exposure are made available. After that, we find out what level they want to get to. Then we work out a plan together. 

We don’t overwhelm them with the entire program. We simply set them up with the sections or modules they need and then open up the levels of complexity as they ‘evolve’.  

If they are looking to get to the second level, for example, we provide them only with the pre-set OSHA forms and regulations they need to follow. As they progress up their safety journey, they are given more abilities in the software and are able to configure more parts of it to their specific company needs.  

Where a new customer may only have 2 or 3 types of events they work with, they can move up to dealing with 12 types of events (including risks and near misses, for example). 

So where is your company on its safety journey… and where does it want to end up?

CONFORMiT software solutions helps companies identify where they are on their safety journey and then provides their software to move up to the next level… and the next… 

 We know that our software is easy to use because we have a community of customers who keep us informed of any issues they have and any suggestions for improvements. 

If you’re ready to take your next step, contact our company for more information on how our software can improve your safety issues, and other aspects of your company.