How safer workplaces maintain healthy workforces

Workforce safety insights

• Investing in quality personal protective equipment (PPE) and engaging training improves worker safety, reduces costs while enhancing employee loyalty, productivity and organizational reputation.
• Gathering and implementing feedback from frontline workers is crucial for improving safety programs, ensuring compliance and fostering a strong, stable safety culture within the organization.

While the product or service provided by various types of plants nationwide may vary, most share at least one common by-product of operating any business: Risk. Anytime humans and heavy equipment are in the same place, protections must be put in place for the sake of the safety and well-being of both workers and machines.

Property damage can be costly and drain valuable production and labor time. When it comes to workers being injured, the organization suffers similar costs and downtime losses but then adds in the potential costs of workers’ injury compensation, litigating with local compliance regulators and civil/individual court fees. Some sources estimate the indirect costs of an injury or fatality can be up to four times greater than the direct costs. According to a 2022 report by the National Safety Council (NSC), businesses spent $167 billion on work injury costs. This figure includes wage and productivity losses, medical expenses, administrative expenses and other uninsured costs.

Add in a growing labor shortage in the specialty trades, replacing seasoned personnel can be expensive and difficult. Financial and logistical stresses aside, no company wants to carry an unsafe reputation.

Investing in personal worker safety is not just about maintaining a healthy and safe workforce. By implementing simple measures such as adding better quality personal protective equipment (PPE), conducting engaging training sessions and incorporating feedback from frontline workers, organizations reap many benefits including more productive, capable and loyal employees.

Falls from heights continue to be a leading cause of injury and death for workers in the general industries and are the #1 cause of injury and death on construction sites. Furthermore, the number of fall injuries and fatalities has increased, on average, every year for the past decade alone. Safer workplaces maintain healthy workforces, which benefits everyone.

Performing a risk assessment

Until all hazards in a facility are identified, controlled and mitigated, risk can be assumed for almost any organization. Initial risk assessments should be performed when a building is first occupied or soon thereafter. However, equipment and environmental changes occur over time. This means facilities must re-examine for potential risks and evaluate if past hazard mitigation has been historically successful. If risk assessments have been performed in the past, it is good practice to review these reports to confirm the proposed solutions were implemented and are still being properly used.

Almost every process, procedure and policy has room for improvement and past incident reports can become fruitful learning opportunities. End-user feedback, particularly from the plant operators and staff, is vital to ensuring safety measures are being used properly. Frontline workers are often the best-suited stakeholders to provide valuable insight into program effectiveness and identify areas that need improvement.

Organizations should conduct in-depth fall hazard assessments to identify any new fall hazards in the facility and evaluate the effectiveness of current equipment being used. OSHA requires all fall protection equipment to be inspected annually by the organization’s Competent Person. These annual inspections provide employers with an opportunity to inspect the anchor points and other permanent fall protection equipment installed throughout the facility and discuss the effectiveness of the equipment with crews. If fall incidents have occurred, it is important to review these incidents with personnel and train workers to prevent the incident from repeating.

Implementing frontline worker feedback

Employers should create opportunities to gather feedback from frontline workers on safety and health programs. Often, a disconnect exists between folks who develop policies, enforce policies, and are asked to follow policies. Employees at any level should feel encouraged and empowered to voice their input on current policies to echo approval or provide constructive criticism for improvement.

Many organizations become frustrated when they invest in protective equipment and workers neglect to use it. Most of the time, the workers needed further training to understand the relevance of the safety measures, the safety risks involved and how their compliance with the program is not only good for their personal safety as well as the company.

Companies should provide workers with a sense of pride and ownership to increase compliance rates. Workers are often more receptive to new safety measures when they are made aware of the risks present without the equipment and how that could affect their health and well-being.

People want to make it home in one piece. Providing them with the resources to understand the benefits of working safer will encourage workers to comply with corporate safety policies.

Organizations can create safe workforces with an emphasis on personal safety for workers and ensuring a shared responsibility. Courtesy: Diversified Fall Protection

Providing PPE for workers

Once hazards are identified and PPE or safety equipment has been provided, ensuring a successful rollout and adoption rate is an essential next step. OSHA requires retraining of employees when changes occur in the workplace, and that can include equipment installation or upgrades. Employers should conduct initial training and document the process to encourage accountability with frontline workers. Trainings should make workers aware of the hazards present, how the equipment mitigates the risk of injury/fatality and proper use of the equipment. Workers should be able to demonstrate an understanding of the principles and operation of the safety equipment before using it unsupervised.

For example, new fall protection equipment is installed in a facility. The employer should ensure each worker using the new equipment has a properly fitting harness and is assigned the proper connection device and anchor the worker will need to perform their work safely. It is recommended first to use the product in a training scenario before regular-duty work is performed with the equipment. Many fall protection manufacturers provide complimentary training to their customers. There’s no such thing as too much training when it comes to safety. Education and awareness are critical.

Developing training initiatives

Suppose user compliance rates are low or engagement during safety trainings declines over time. In that case, it might be helpful to freshen up training programs and offer employees tangible incentives to encourage pursuing continuing education. Some organizations provide Certificates of Completion when employees attend in-person or virtual webinars and build personal career development. Many organizations also offer “ambassador” roles to mid-level supervisors, which are effective in developing synergy between management and frontline workers.

From construction sites to high-rise office suites, it is becoming a common practice for employers to combine safety trainings with worker appreciation events. A vendor-sponsored lunch and learn is a great example. Workers get the opportunity to speak with the manufacturers of their safety equipment, ask questions and become more aware of industry hazard statistics.

Employers also should coordinate with their fall protection suppliers to learn more about complimentary education resources for customers. Events like these remind employees their health and well-being are of mutual interest to the organization. Workers should feel empowered to work in the future.

At the very least, diversifying speakers who train on the same policies can help freshen up a struggling training program. Companies should not underestimate the willingness of industry partners to provide complimentary product training to boost user compliance rates.

Developing a strong, stable safety culture

Fostering stronger safety cultures and creating safer workplaces has numerous benefits, which are felt by employers and employees alike. While maintaining a robust fall protection program can initially seem cumbersome, the effort is worth it when the organization is successful in preventing injuries and fatalities. OSHA guarantees workers the right to a workplace free of hazards and plant operators play an active role in ensuring the guarantee of that right.

By identifying fall hazards, implementing effective safety measures and following up with thorough training programs, organizations can create workforces who are knowledgeable on personal safety and feel connected to their co-workers with a shared responsibility for each other’s safety and well-being.

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