Safety is everyone’s responsibility, but sometimes the messaging needs to be streamlined and communicated in a way that provides clarity and is meaningful to the workforce. Everyone should have input on resource allocation when it comes to safety initiatives and processes. Assigning a responsibility without the necessary resources sets up an organization for failure, undermines the culture and ultimately stalls the safety journey.

Engage Your Entire Team

Safety is rightfully one of the most important aspects of any job, and responsibilities cannot be limited to just the safety department. It is imperative to keep your workforce fully engaged and provide them with a set of responsibilities that are clear, effective and properly resourced and measured. The traditional safety approach looks to management to make all decisions and to direct the execution of responsibilities, but your workforce is more engaged when they are encouraged to provide input and they are fully trained, equipped and supported in completing their responsibilities with excellence. Ask yourself these questions:

• Does your workforce understand their responsibilities?
• Do they feel supported in their execution of their duties?

Support Your Workforce

Identifying ways to support your workforce is one of the first, simplest steps to improve safety across your company. The industry is rapidly changing, and there are new technology and tools to make everyone safer. Top-performing contractors now utilize software and apps to review safety performance at the touch of a button.

Gone are the days of having to invest several days per month gathering data, validating it, formatting it and presenting it to upper management. The administrative time and efforts are now automated by software, freeing up safety personnel to be in the field to influence, support and coach your workforce. Instead of spending days in front of a screen, your safety department is now free to be in the field, developing more effective hazard recognition and improving the skills of your supervisors and front-line workforce. The workforce gains timely feedback and can see where more resources need to be deployed.

Meaningful, instantaneous, accurate and just feedback strengthens culture and performance. This increased transparency helps everyone see how they can best support the goals of the company to continue to improve the safety journey.

Take the ABC Total Human Health Assessment to identify meaningful changes your organization can make to improve health and safety and learn about software that can revolutionize your administrative efforts.

Looking for help building your safety program?

Discover resources available through ABC’s STEP Safety Management System and other health and safety topics at abc.org/safety.

For more information or assistance, please reach out to Joe Xavier or Aaron Braun.