Just Google It – 12/25/23

Safety E-Quick Tip

OWYN Safety Mgmt Platform

Just Google It

As promised, I am providing you with the 4 Steps utilized by Review Commission judges to assess whether a company has taken reasonable measures to prevent employee exposure hazards in the workplace.

Rather than reinventing the wheel, I’m going to use a blast from the past, a Safety E-QuickTip from October 18, 2021, to get started.

Over the years I’ve talked about the 4 Steps to implementing and maintaining workplace safety. The way I’ve gone about it has always been the same – list the 4 steps and describe them in detail.

This time we’re going to look at them a little differently.

We’ll start by renaming the 4 Steps.

Establish safety policies and procedures – Developing a safety resource guide, company safety program
Effectively communicate your policies and procedures on safety – Educate employees to prevent exposure to workplace hazards
Perform regular and frequent worksite safety inspections – Find potential hazards
Enforce safety with your employees – Fix and eliminate hazards to prevent future exposure

You may be thinking right now, “What’s the big deal? Renaming the 4 steps doesn’t change anything,” right?

Well, there is no question the 4 steps are still the 4 steps. But sometimes it’s how you look at them that determines whether you move forward or not.

Let’s look at the 1^st step, developing a safety resource guide, and maybe you’ll see what I mean.

Real safety is all about preventing workplace accidents; it’s not about a company’s safety policies and procedures.

So, wouldn’t developing a safety resource guide that provides information about potential hazards in the workplace and how the company and their employees will prevent exposure to those hazards be a better way to refer to your company safety program?

Who wants to hear about company safety policies and procedures anyway? But we can all relate to a safety resource guide because Google has done a great job of showing us the value of a resource center.

Is there anyone reading right now that has not used Google as a resource for information?

I didn’t think so.

The great thing about a safety resource guide is that, like Google, you can go back to it time and time again to learn more and better understand what you need to do to protect yourself and those working with you.

And yes, a safety resource guide (Safety Program, Plan or Manual) can contain company policies and procedures on safety, but they are just a part of what it takes to keep employees safe from workplace hazards.

Employees and management also need to understand:

Potential workplace hazards
How employees may be exposed to workplace hazards
When exposure might take place
What equipment can be used to protect employees from hazards
When protective equipment might be necessary
And it may even be a resource that reminds you of why workplace safety is important (something you might forget during your busy workday)

Workplace safety is all about you: the manager, the employee, and even the owner, and it’s simple. Policies and procedures don’t even come close to meeting all your needs when it comes to workplace safety.

We’ll take a look at other steps next week.

Employee QuickTip

It is estimated that the average person does between 3 and 4 Google searches a day. When was the last time you asked to look at your company’s safety program, or as I would like to call it Safety Reference Guide?

The information it contains might even be more important than your next Google search.

Employer/Management QuickTip

As you probably already know, most of us don’t want to hear about company policies and procedures, but we do like to learn more. Otherwise, why would the average person perform 3 to 4 Google searches a day?

You might want to consider developing your company safety program and then referring to it as your Company Safety Resource Guide. Maybe your company can get to where everyone uses it like Google – or at least use it on a more regular basis.

Have you received your first Safety E-QuickTip or just want at a few past issues? Check out our Safety E-QuickTips Archive Page on our website.

If you know of someone or a company that might benefit from receiving Safety E-QuickTips, please take a moment to share this with them so they can sign-up today.

Thanks for Reading and Please – Be kind to one another this Holiday Season and in the Year to come and as always “Be Safe this Week”.