As a manager or a business owner, you already understand the importance of safety. You have invested time and money in creating detailed safety programs, training supervisors using best practices, and hiring people you think would prioritize safety.
But how do you encourage your employees to get involved?
Any safety leader will tell you that employee participation and involvement are important for the success of an employee safety program.
However, taking part in a safety program goes much beyond asking employees to join a safety and health committee. True involvement and engagement must occur daily to facilitate the proper and desirable behaviors.
Even after devising a comprehensive employee safety program, if your employees are not supporting it, you are losing it. In this case, it might be time to step back and re-evaluate the approach.
Keep reading for suggestions on how to inspire your employees to become more dedicated and enthusiastic about your safety program.
What is meant by a Safety Culture?
Safety culture is referred to the way safety is managed at work.
It is the confluence of employees’ attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs about their safety as well as the general safety at the workplace. The maintenance of workplace safety depends heavily on cultivating a Safety Culture.
However, putting up a few banners warning employees about loud noises or putting out cones for wet floors alone will not help you create a safe working culture.
And although it is typically the last aspect of management that is addressed, it is still the most important and should never be disregarded.
Top 5 ways to motivate your employees to create a Safety Culture
Look at the following practices for inspiring your employees to become more dedicated and enthusiastic about your safety procedures.
1. Make Safety an Important element in your Culture
From the time a candidate shows up for an interview, it should be made abundantly clear to prospective employees that safety is a top priority in your company. You can achieve this by incorporating safety instructions and reminders into the onboarding process.
To maintain employees’ enthusiasm, you must do more than provide them with safety training when they first join your company. By bringing up a safety topic every day, you can make it a point to remind your employees of the safety values. This way, your employees will realize the value of safety.
2. Make your Employees feel Ownership in the Safety Process
When employees actively participate in safety programs, they are naturally more motivated and dedicated to them. You can achieve this by communicating to employees that their dedication to safety procedures benefits not just themselves but also their co-workers and the company.
Another fantastic method for encouraging buy-in and motivation is giving employees a range of channels to provide feedback about the safety program and its effects.
Companies must recognize if they have an unhealthy workplace setup and if its resulting in mental, physical or emotional stress for their employees. Organizations should promote a Safety Culture by allowing employees to conduct safety audits and participate in problem-solving committees.
3. Speak up about Risks or Hazards in the Company
Giving your employees a voice is one of the most efficient and consistent ways to get them involved in safety.
Think about it. Do you give employees a reliable way of speaking up and sharing if they notice risks or hazards?
To promote a “see something, say something” Safety Culture, you must encourage team members to speak up and provide them with reliable tools to alert managers to harmful situations and behavioral observations.
The first step in the approach is to give them a way to communicate these hazards and risks, and the second step is to make sure you pay attention to what they say and take the appropriate action.
4. Hold a Safety Week
Having a dedicated safety week at least once or twice a year is helpful if you want to communicate the right message about workplace safety.
Employees will learn via repetition that safety matters and should always be in their thoughts.
Bring in speakers, hold contests, or perform some other activity to emphasize the significance of workplace safety. You can even invite employees to share their thoughts and anecdotes to get everyone thinking more critically about safety.
5. Use the right Safety Management Software
One of the best ways to encourage employee involvement in safety is to invest in the right safety management system. There are many good safety management softwares available online.
Involving employees in choosing the key safety metrics you will be observing, and monitoring is another way to increase employee engagement. Employees will gain much knowledge by being involved in this process.
Once you have narrowed down the key metrics, you can use them as part of your reward program and incentivize them to help them realize how much they can contribute to the overall effort by advocating for their and their co-workers’ safety.
Conclusion
Safety at work is a very important issue. Taking a step back will help us see the bigger picture.
The health and well-being of employees are the major drivers of all of this. But it also helps if they show up to work – relaxed and stress-free. As we know, people will perform better in an environment where they feel safe and secure.
For the safety programs to be successful, employees must be inspired, committed, and actively involved in the safety culture. You can maintain a culture of safety by following the practices mentioned above.
