Building an Effective Employee Safety Program

Key Takeaways:
• Establish a shared commitment to safety through clear goals, consistent communication, and leadership by example.
• Provide effective safety training, conduct regular inspections, and track performance to prevent injuries and identify risks.
• Recognize safe behaviors, correct hazards promptly, and hold everyone accountable for maintaining a safe workplace.

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Developing a best-in-class safety program in any business, particularly in the building services industry, requires an established culture that is a bottom-to-top, top-to-bottom effort. It requires full engagement at both ends of the spectrum, and it must be more than words—it’s all about execution. The following steps will take a commercial cleaning operation there.

The first move is to establish a safety vision and mission statement. Cleaning businesses must lay the foundation for what they want to build. To simplify: the vision is what the company wants to be now and in the future, and the mission is how to get there. Both need to be communicated to and understood by all team members. The safety vision and mission statement should be motivational and align perfectly with the company-wide vision and mission, as well as the organization’s values.

Once a safety vision and mission are clearly defined—and before communicating this company-wide—a gap analysis should be conducted. This evaluation will determine where the company’s strengths and weaknesses lie and includes a compliance check to ensure that state and federal regulatory requirements are met.

For example, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets core safety requirements that companies must meet. Safety policies and procedures for the commercial cleaning industry need to be in place and fully comply with these requirements. Effective safety policies and procedures ensure standardization across the company.

Following a thoughtful compliance evaluation, standards of performance should be identified. Measuring success is the first step to achieving it. It is important to include both lagging and leading indicators.

Lagging indicators are the results of collective efforts to prevent accidents and injuries. A lagging indicator is used to confirm past performance rather than predict future outcomes. For example, lagging indicators may include counts of injuries, injury severity, and their financial impact. This would include metrics such as the total recordable incident rate (TRIR), the lost-time injury rate (LTIR), and workers' compensation costs.

Leading indicators can be used to predict future outcomes, serving as early warning signs that help leadership adjust strategies proactively.They may include safety training, near-miss reporting, safety inspection results, and behavior-based safety program implementation.

Establishing leading and lagging indicators requires a historical performance review of company metrics and should include a margin for improvement going forward. For example, if a company’s TRIR average over the past three years is three, the business should strive for improvement, possibly with a goal of 2.7 or lower—a 10 percent improvement. A similar strategy can be used to establish realistic but challenging goals for the chosen lagging and leading indicators.

Reaching the highest safety standards demands focus on six critical areas:

1. Promoting Safety
Promoting safety needs to be done consistently and repetitively, with awareness at every level. Coaching employees on established safety policies and best practices is critical. This needs to be done by managers and supervisors who have been properly trained. Coaching is the first step, followed by enforcement if the message is not resonating with employees.

One important voice box for a safety program should include a company-sponsored safety committee. The safety committee should be representative of all employees, meet regularly to discuss safety concerns brought forth by employees, and review accident-investigation information that can be shared companywide in the spirit of accident prevention.

2. Safety Training
Safety and leadership training are essential. Managers and supervisors must be trained by a competent authority figure on safety policies, procedures, and best practices. Leadership training should be included in that effort. Frontline employees will also need to be trained by competent managers, supervisors, or safety professionals.

The goal for any safety training program is to actively engage trainees in a learning environment. This is achieved most effectively by interactive exchanges with a trainer and the use of audiovisual aids. If there is a multilingual audience—which is very common in this industry—training should be provided in their native languages or include an interpreter.

With any worthwhile training effort, documentation is a must. The use of customized toolbox talks—regularly scheduled, single-focused, in-depth topics—is a nice addition to any safety training program.

Finally, a goal should be made to include a safety briefing before the start of the shift. This briefing should be on a specific issue or concern that’s relevant to a specific location or building type.

3. Safety Inspections
As with most efforts, what gets inspected gets done. Periodic safety audits and inspections should be carried out at specific sites or locations. If possible, cleaning managers can use a customized, scoreable checklist.

Inspections should include a review of equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements, as well as regular discussions with location management and frontline workers to gauge their understanding of safety requirements. Other items for review should include observing walkways and aisles for clutter, verifying safe supply storage, and reviewing training documentation.

4. Celebrating Success
Recognizing locations and employees who hit safety milestones is a key component of any successful program. Celebrations should include formal or informal recognition from the manager, with an emphasis on teamwork in achieving a company-wide or site-specific goal.

5. Improvement Opportunities
A safety program would not be complete without acknowledging areas for improvement. This may include items identified in safety inspections that need correction, as well as concerns raised during safety committee meetings. It can also include corrective measures that are identified during accident investigations.

6. Closing Loops Through Accountability
Accountability is the glue that holds every great safety program together. Managers and employees must hold themselves and each other accountable for safety execution.

Employees will not embrace execution if managers and supervisors don’t lead by example. As the saying goes, employees will doubt what you say but will believe what you do. Wherever possible, tie safety performance to managerial compensation by using a scorecard built around the company’s outlined leading and lagging indicators.

Tom Covilli, Vice President of Safety and Risk Management at 4M Building Solutions, leads the safety programs, risk management, and OSHA compliance. A Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) since 1987, he is a member of ABIH and AIHA.