As painful as it sounds, did you know that around 5,250 employees died at work in 2018? That is according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In short, injuries and deaths in the workplace are real. And such incident reports would bring a negative impact on business productivity and costs. So, it is not right to take these incidents lightly because who are among an enterprise’s most important assets? The employees. Every worker deserves protection with the help of a risk management plan or a safety plan. What makes an effective safety plan? And how can it help businesses or employees in general? Continue reading the article below.
Instead of blaming faults, refusing help, or deciding poorly in any incident or emergency at work, why not have a formal procedure? That procedure is outlined and discussed in a safety plan. These safety plans are official documents that contain the regulations for workplace safety. Protocols tackle various factors from personal safety, fires, earthquakes, environmental exposure, and others. Every worker in the workplace should be aware of the emergency processes and the site map under this business plan.
In 2018, statistics proved that about 5,250 employees died at work.
Moreover, OSHA confirmed that one out of five employee deaths comes from the construction sector in 2018.
Also, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) stated that private industry managers reported to 2.8 million cases of nonfatal injuries and illnesses in the workplace.
Keeping employees healthy and protected is the number one reason why safety plans are essential. If any worker’s health is at risk, there are chances for expensive healthcare expenses and low productivity of operations, mostly when employees affect a company’s performance. And do not forget that according to the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, it is standard for any establishment to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for all employees. Otherwise, your business might face fines and citations from OSHA.
Aside from the good intentions observed in a safety plan, another reason people should make one is due to how the overall procedure includes organized strategic plans. Of course, random decisions for safety and protection is discouraged. Careful planning is part of the picture to ensure the minimum requirements and standards by OSHA’s regulations will be met. Workers’ compensation, health insurance, business security, and emergency expenses are just a few points to tackle in a plan anyway. Most importantly, safety planning applies not only at work but also in environments like schools and homes.
Managers commonly plot safety plans for their businesses. But it is not a requirement that employers and business owners should create the safety management plan. The job can be assigned to the employees or anyone. Although the job applies to anyone, there is a big chance for the overall plan to be flawed. And you cannot let those flaws happen, or possible problems may take over that would burden the whole company. A tip is to work with a reliable team to discuss and decide matters for the system.
There is a slang term called “protecc.” The word refers to giving protection in the highest form. In the way millennials or Gen Zs use it, they usually say, “Must protecc!” to people or characters whom they want to protect no matter what. And observing the biggest form of protection should be how everyone values safety and health too. But, safety plans can be too broad as there are many examples of where or how they can be applied. So in this section, we outlined the common examples of safety plans.
Safety planning is not only relevant to preventing deaths but also for avoiding injuries. Based on a survey, private industry managers even reported about 2.8 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses at work. So treat safety plans as prevention plans too. And since you already know about the plan’s definition, importance, and examples, you proceed to make the plan itself. The following are the steps on how to craft a safety plan:
Although making a safety plan is already a purpose, specify what that safety program is. Are you making a safety plan for your home, the workplace, school, or any other example? Specify it. A clear objective helps in tailoring how your entire plan must turn out. There are many factors to consider when creating a general safety plan, so do not keep things broad. And once you finalize what the safety plan is for, download the appropriate template. Tweak the safety plan template’s content and fill out all the needed info.
It is crucial to inspect and determine what the potential hazards or risks are. For example, you could observe that the floors are slippery in the workplace, or there is no door for an emergency exit. Those are your clues of potential risks. Anticipate the factors that may cause injuries because those must be prevented and fixed. It is wrong to create random solutions without being sure what the actual problems are anyway. And once every risk can be solved, employees can slowly do their tasks safely.
Create the action plan—which marks as your itemized guide on what steps to follow for maintaining safety. Making solutions is not a guessing game, though. Every strategy enlisted should be analyzed if the plan can make a difference. Many strategies are even discussed with employees and guests first to gather their reactions and suggestions. And in each solution, descriptions must be present as well. That way, anyone who checks the plan would understand the details instead of asking further questions.
If you already listed all the solutions for the safety plan, then good. But, the plan should not simply enumerate strategies. A sense of organization is required, as well. And the effective way to organize the list is by making categorizes. For example, you could list down all the plans for workers’ compensation in one category and another category for the working environment safety planning. Visual organizes like tables, charts, and more can help you simplify the data. Or perhaps, you present the data like a checklist where everything listed must be arranged.
Are you confident that your safety plan is already good enough? Conduct a final review of your plan before you print, submit, or validate it. Of course, sticking to the plan is imperative, but your job does not just stop there. Assessment reports are crucial. This statement means you should evaluate if the safety plan observed is working well or benefiting the outcome. If not, then change certain factors to perfect the plan. Trials and errors commonly occur anyway, and what matters is to improve continuously.
OSHA recommends various elements to a safety plan, including policy statements, a list of the involved people, hazard and risk controls, emergency responses, recordkeeping, and employee training programs.
The three Es of safety is evaluation, education, and enforcement. And they all help in ensuring hazards, injuries, and incidents can be controlled.
A lot of unsafe acts exist, and safety plans should determine their variations and limits. Examples include lacking warning signs, smoking near flammable products, incomplete safety gear, working near high voltage, etc.
Dangerous incidents and injuries may happen anywhere and in different forms, from a construction worker falling at a worksite to the house kitchen ending in flames. But no matter what form the bad outcome takes, be sure to implement safety rules. A successful business would not even last without healthy employees and a safe environment. And to start alleviating harmful effects in any application, begin drafting a carefully structured safety plan.
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