Whether based at an office or on-site, by law employers have to ensure a safe working environment.

At HSEC Online, not only do we provide a solution to help companies mitigate risk, but also use our very own system.

A product we perfected for our company, to protect our company and employees, is the same product used by thousands of companies.

We understand that establishing and maintaining a strong and positive safety culture in your workplace is key to a successful running organisation. Here are 7 steps to building a healthy safety culture at the workplace:

Step 1:

Set clear goals and objectives for the company on how to improve the overall health and safety culture. These goals and objectives should align with the health & safety management programme and can be incorporated into the Health & Safety Policy.

Step 2:

Improve internal health and safety communication and ensure employees have access to the health and safety policies and procedures. Hold regular safety talks which can be run by the employees.

Step 3:

Upskill and train employees on key health and safety aspects within the organisation. This builds trust and shows the company’s commitment to health and safety management. If workers are not committed to the process then the overall culture will be negatively impacted.

Step 4:

Create a process of recognition and reward, where employees can receive incentives for their contribution to the health and safety culture. This may be linked to the reporting of near misses or providing suggestions on removing workplace hazards.

Step 5:

Monitor the success of the programme by tracking incidents. As the culture improves, so the number of reported incidents may increase as employees become more aware of the importance of reporting incidents and no longer fear any repercussions. To this end, it is important to have a “no blame culture” where there is an open platform to learn and engage with employees.

Step 6:

Ensure that there is an effective platform or procedure available for resolving nonconformances as the culture will be impacted if there is a perception that issues are not being resolved.

Step 7:

Management play a critical role in the underlying health and safety culture within a company. Management need to lead by example and there are too many examples of managers not following basic health and safety policies and procedures and yet expect the employees to comply. This destroys the culture and ultimately leads to unwanted and costly injuries.