3 Keys to an Effective Employee Safety Program

An employee safety program can be tough to implement and even tougher to get employees actively engaged in. An effective employees safety program can be a sound investment that keeps your workforce safe and mitigates risk of workers compensation cases. Here are three ways you can ensure the implementation of your employees safety program is effective.

1. Program Communication: Shout it from the rooftops! The existence of the program, the criteria of the program and how to identify as a workforce leader (should an employee so choose) should be information that is abundantly available and delivered to employees. Throw a kick-off party to get the program started, and have regular points of positive communication whether that's a status letter from the CEO or a team reward when the group reaches a program milestone. Be positive and keep the communication open and often.
2. Build in a Reward Component: Safety should become an organizational value. Rewarding good behavior instills it in people. Safety rewards should be timely and don't have to be big. A $10 gift card to popular retailers like Albertsons, 1-800-Flowers or Speedway Gas are a great way to reward good behavior and promote the safe behavior your organization. Rewards are part of the investment that builds a culture of safety at your organization.
3.  Recognize and thank employees for participation: Even if your employee safety program is mandatory recognize employees who are engaged and active participants in the program. For employees who appreciate public recognition, call them out for good behavior. For employees who do not appreciate public recognition, a quiet thank you in an email or a card is a great way to recognize the effort quieter employees are still making.

For more information on how to ensure effectiveness of the implementation of your employee safety program check out this article from Occupational Health & Safety.