Perfecting Your New Employee Safety Orientation

It takes real commitment on behalf of everyone involved in a company to create and implement a complete safety culture for every employee.

I speak about safety cultures and not programs because anyone can write a safety “program.” The implementation of a safety culture is an ever-evolving pledge that a company must make, to all employees, to consistently keep current staff on target, as well as when training new employees.
Beginning with your new safety orientation program, safety must be a top concern for new employees, as well as staff that has been with your company for years. Just as a group is only as strong as its weakest member, your staff is only as safe as its least concerned worker. From the day an employee is hired, safety must be a top priority. The goal of new employee safety orientation is to instill the qualities that motivate them to achieve safety excellence. It is important to work with a safety expert to customize a program for your safety orientation and implementation in order to properly educate staff, from your newest employee to your seasoned worker.

New employee safety orientation that educates staff on your company’s specialized safety culture creates an environment in which every worker is personally committed to his or her own safety as well as the safety of every single one of their colleagues. When working with a safety consultant firm, look for new hire orientation programs that provide annual training required by OSHA for all current and perspective employees, both onsite and online. I recommend it as an annual requirement as it is an excellent safety refresher course for even the most safety-conscious employee. This way, proper safety is always at the forefront.

A real safety culture is a complete change in attitude that becomes part of each individual’s lifestyle and daily habits, whether at home or at work. Trying to achieve this in the construction world can be even more difficult since the environment is constantly changing, the workforce is spread out, and top management is sometimes rarely seen. However, from day one, a safety culture is the real key to keeping workers safe regardless of the environment or how hazardous the jobsite is.

Safety cultures are ever-evolving and, unlike a safety program, it is not a one-time accomplishment through your new hire orientation. This mindset and culture must not stop once an orientation is complete. A safety culture is a philosophy to keep at the center of daily activity for everyone involved in your company and on your jobsites. Rather than simply writing a set of policies, procedures and reports, it’s important for companies to include safety in its everyday mission and strategic plans. A safety culture is an investment that every company should take seriously and, when done properly, an investment that should implement the following strategies:

• Safety programs
• Drug free workplace
• Risk management
• Accident investigations
• Continual training
• Material safety data updates
• Knowledge of how to handle OSHA visits
• Jobsite daily checklists

Within a safety culture, safety must always come first and consider everyone involved. Safety procedures must not simply be done as a matter of compliance, in the hopes of avoiding an accident, nor should accidents ever be seen as an inevitable part of life. The field of construction is finally reaching the mindset that accidents must always be viewed as preventable. Site audits of contractor projects and individual jobsites should be completed for compliance and reported directly to management. This enables owners and managers to be proactive with their safety program and provide input at the management level. In turn, employees can be confident that management is diligent in keeping their worksites safe. An effective safety culture should set its standard at zero accidents. Setting a target that includes any accidents actually condones even one accident and that is unacceptable.

Look for a safety consultant company that will be a true partner and work with you monthly to perform regular safety culture checks. The company should help you ascertain the average number of projects per year, number of employee turnover, any special training to fit your market niche and annual OSHA required training. The goal of your safety consultant firm is to help lower your experience modification rate (EMR). The consultant company should keep confidential loss-run insurance information and EMR’s to help monitor and reduce accident exposures and potential raise in premiums when it comes time to renew business insurance the following year. Make sure you have empowered the people in your workforce with the knowledge they need to recognize the hazards on the jobsite. Too many times it is assumed that the employee has the knowledge to protect him/her when in fact his/her training may have been by someone who has taken shortcuts for years and gotten away with it. Training should be behavioral based to let the employee take responsibility for his/her own actions.

Safety should never be viewed as a business risk or cost. In fact, upon developing the best standards for your workplace, a safety culture should be a risk free and profitable venture. MOD rates should drop considerably, resulting in reduced premiums. By being implemented from the beginning at your new employee safety orientation, and continued through annual refresher courses, a safety culture provides a win/win situation at every turn.

Construction Business Owner, January 2009