9.13 Promoting a Culture of Safety and Health
Employee health and safety is a must in today’s high-stress work environments. Although some may see employee health as something that shouldn’t concern HR, the increasing cost of health benefits makes it in the best interest of the company to hire and maintain healthy employees. In fact, during the recession of the late 2000s, when cutbacks were common, 50 percent of all workplaces increased or planned to increase investments in wellness and health at their organization (Sears, 2009).
A safe culture doesn’t happen by requiring training sessions every year; it occurs by creating an environment in which people can recognize hazards and have the authority and ability to fix them. Instead of safety being a management focus only, every employee should take interest by being alert to the safety issues that can exist. If an employee is unable to handle the situation on his or her own, the manager should then take suggestions from employees seriously; making the change and then communicating the change to the employee can be an important component of a safe and healthy workplace. A culture that promotes safety is one that never puts cost or production numbers ahead of safety. You do not want to create a culture in which health and safety priorities compete with production speedup, which can lead to a dangerous situation.
Possible techniques you can implement to have a safe and healthy work environment include the following:
- Know safety laws.
- Provide training to employees on safety laws.
- Have a written policy for how violations will be handled.
- Commit the resources (time and money) necessary to ensure a healthy work environment.
- Involve employees in safety and health discussions, as they may have good ideas as to how the organization can improve.
- Make safety part of an employee’s job description; in other words, hold employees accountable for always practising safety at work.
- Understand how the health (or lack of health) of your employees contributes to or takes away from the bottom line and implement policies and programs to assist in this effort.
Health and Safety Policy
A health and safety policy can be effective in communicating the importance of health and safety for the organization. See an example below.
Health and Safety Policy Example
Cordis (A Johnson & Johnson Company) Environmental, Health, and Safety Policy
Cordis Corporation is committed to global Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) performance and leadership with respect to its associates, customers, suppliers, contractors, visitors, and communities. To fulfill this commitment, Cordis Corporation conducts its business emphasizing regulatory compliance and collaboration.
We strive for:
- Comprehensive risk management
- Pollution prevention
- Healthy lifestyle culture
- Continuous improvement and sustainability
- Engaging partnerships
- Possession of outstanding EHS capabilities and skill sets
We affirm that EHS is:
- A core business value and a key indicator of organizational excellence
- Considered in every task we perform and in every decision we make
We believe that:
- All incidents and injuries are preventable
- Process Excellence is the driver for continuous improvement and sustainable results in all aspects of EHS
- Every associate is responsible and accountable for complying with all aspects of EHS, creating a safe and healthy work environment while leaving the smallest environmental footprint
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Another option to ensure health and safety is to implement an employee assistance program (EAP). This benefit is intended to help employees with personal problems that could affect their performance at work. The EAP usually includes covered counselling and referral services. This type of program can assist employees with drug or alcohol addictions, emotional issues such as depression, stress management, or other personal issues. Sometimes these programs are outsourced to organizations that can provide in-house training and referral services to employees.
Think!
“Health Hazards at Work” from Human Resources Management – 2nd Ontario Edition by Elizabeth Cameron is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
