Friday 11 March 2016

Pro-active Approach in Safety at Workplace

  • Most of the accidents do take place due to lack of awareness and prediction. Of course, being aware is not sufficient, taking the preventive measures is the most important aspect to avoid the unwanted incidents. Thus, the awareness & the implementation,  when go hand in hand will ensure safety at workplace.
  • Safety is everyone's responsibility. Its the mutual responsibility shared between the organization (management) and the employees.
  • If we look at the different definitions of safety at workplace, mostly it will be a preventive measure to avoid accidents/unwanted incidents/mis-happenings.Little research has been done on the positivity of safety. The perception towards safety should change in order to bring new benchmarks as far as work place safety is concerned.
  • Safety should be considered as a pro-active measure rather than a preventive measure.Innovation in safety has to be encouraged through workshops , seminars, committees & councils etc.
  • Safety should not be considered as a separate entity. It's an integral part of the inclusive growth strategy for good occupational health and environment. SAP-EHS module can be useful for such integration.
  • Safety stewards should take leading role in spreading the information shared in the workshops, meetings etc., to all the employees by conducting training programs, knowledge sharing sessions.
  • The professional circles, quality circles should also take up the safety issues as their projects and find out some improvement methodology to solve the safety related problems.
  • Near miss incidents/best practices/ safety slogans/essays & write-ups related to safety are to be shared in intranet & e-mails.Use of social media can also be explored.
  • The participation rate in safety awareness competitions has to be increased by giving the employees proper motivation.Encouraging the employees to enhance the safety through their innovative thoughts is the key for the pro-active approach on safety.
  • Sharing the minutes of safety council meetings with all the employees will definitely enhance their awareness & increase the vigilance on proper implementation & follow up.
  • With the increased understanding of safety at workplace & paradigm shift in the perception towards safety from preventive to pro-active, any organization can safely reach its targets and set up new benchmarks in overall growth.