COSTS AND BENEFITS OF SAFETY PROGRAMS
Organizational focus on employee safety can provide for higher morale and productivity in the workplace. This is due to the perception that the company truly cares about the health and well-being of its employees, thus creating a sense of pride for the organization. Increased productivity as it correlates to safety and morale is a difficult metric to measure, but forward-thinking organizations realize that it does exist and can therefore justify the costs of their safety programs as compared to the productivity benefits that they provide.
In contrast to measuring productivity as it relates to safety, the indirect costs of employee injuries are much more measurable. For example, a death or severe injury on the job site can shut down a project for extended periods of time while it is under investigation, and lost time equals lost money. Additionally, there is the cost of lost productivity of the affected employee, increased insurance premiums, cost of replacing the injured worker, cost of training the new worker and potential fines. These costs can be so severe that they may make it difficult to run a profitable organization.
SAFETY ASSESSMENTS
One of the key components to any safety program is the ability to monitor its effectiveness. It is essential that assessments be conducted as a way of measuring the safety program’s compliance with both regulatory and company requirements. The purpose of the assessment is to measure both the performance of the safety program as well as identify opportunities for improvement.Before a safety assessment is conducted, the company must first determine what tools should be used to provide the best overall picture of its performance. Risk management professionals in the power industry have developed various safety measurement tools. Some of the more common ones include workplace inspections, work observations, employee safety perception surveys, regulatory safety compliance audits and safety management audits. Companies with a clear understanding of the objective of its safety assessment can then determine what tools will provide the most accurate measurement.
• Workplace inspections are visual inspections of facilities, equipment and toolsto identify hazards, physical deterioration and defects.
• Work observations are developed as a way to monitor, coach and train workers on safety while they are actually working on the job.
• Employee safety perception surveys are written evaluations of employees’ opinions about the safety program and safety culture.
• Regulatory compliance safety audits are methods of assuring compliance with various safety regulations, standards and codes.
• Safety management audits are a comprehensive method of providing a company with an overall picture of the quality and effectiveness of its safety activities. Safety management audits include:
− Review of documented safety policies and programs
− Manager, safety specialist and supervisor interviews
− Workplace inspections
− Workplace observations