The Importance Of An Established Company-Wide Culture For Job Safety
At first glance, the need for a shared safety vision may seem secondary to other company priorities. After all: Establishing a company-wide vision for jobsite safety demands a commitment from senior management, an in-detail understanding of the changing patterns that so often affect the behavior of workers, and the accumulation of documentation, planning tools and training programs. And these are just the basic starting points – the minor barriers. Overcoming pre-existing employee viewpoints on workplace safety and personal responsibility may actually be the biggest hurdle of all.
Yet no profit-minded construction company can afford to ignore the big dividends associated with an established and effective culture for work safety. Gains associated with a shared jobsite safety vision include but are not limited to the following:
- Reduced costs in payouts for worker’s compensation
- Elevated local and global status in the competitive marketplace
- Better overall worker productivity
- Reduced company paid insurance premiums
- Better motivates employee engagement
- Improves worker relations, productivity and retention
- Aids in the recruitment of new employees
- Reduces the need for excess safety audits and the associated fines
- AND Effectively boots overall company profitability.
Cost Of Ignored Jobsite Safety
Aside from missing out on the proven benefits, when construction companies ignore the importance of shared jobsite safety vision they also increase the risk of major legal issues, fines and penalties. On-site safety incidents also result in unnecessary downtime, missed deadlines, and a possible shortage of workers – all not giving way to the greater possibility of short-term, long-term and permanent human suffering.
Crafting A Company-Wide Culture For Job Safety
It starts with a shared vision, a clearly defined focus on jobsite safety, established safety goals, and the certainty total group benefits. It sets direction and goals. It engages workers and it unifies managers and workers. In short, a focus on a culture for company-wide job safety cranks up the attitude of the entire household.
How you go about crafting the vision is dependent upon the specifics of your company. Yet it must be established as a joint project, engaging members from ever level of company functionality. Evoking an on-the-jobsite safety vision is not a task of little insignificance. But the following processes can help establish the core functions:
- Develop a Safety Management System that best suits your company size and goals
- Open conversations that share the message and the goals
- Speak and write with practical but emotional tones, setting a focus on matters personal to your audiences
- Go slowly, enabling your people to acknowledge, assess and accept the importance of a shared safety vision
- Draw on data from the past within your own company and from historic reports concerning other companies
- Collect and share creditable visual communication tools.
Crafting a workable and reliable jobsite safety vision involves much more, but that’s all the time we have in this session. To learn more about workplace safety expectations, take a look at our Assignar Safety Toolbox Talks.
