Keeping Your Shop Safe

There is an element to your business that you may overlook that can greatly affect its vitality and competitiveness. An effective safety plan can improve productivity and reduce costs if properly developed and executed.

Too often, employers regard safety as an extraneous cost that doesn’t contribute to their business. Yet reducing injuries can make a huge difference to the bottom line. By protecting employees’ well-being, the business reduces the amount paid out in insurance benefits and workers’ compensation. Also you need to factor in saving the cost of lost-work hours (days away from work) and the customer service that may suffer due to fewer technicians to work on vehicles. You also have to consider the stress on fellow employees who are picking up the absent worker’s share of the work.

According to Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA), in 2005, there were 4.6 cases of occupational injury and illness per 100 employees, with 4.2 million injuries and illnesses among private sector firms. Of those, 67 percent occurred in services-related businesses.

The numbers show that it is important to create a safety plan and make sure that employees know and understand it. In order for a safety plan to work, there needs to be a strong commitment from management to the program. If employees come to the conclusion that the organization’s top managers do not care about safety, any efforts to implement a successful program will fail.

Experts recommend having a written safety policy statement that clearly identifies management’s commitment to the program, provide safe working conditions, teach and enforce safe operating procedures and practice environmental conservation. This policy statement typically is one page in length and should be provided to all employees and posted in each individual shop.

Beyond the written policy statement, a business should also have a written safety program that is tailored to the specific needs of the business. Safety policies and procedures are specific rules that allow for a safe workplace and adhere to federal, state and local regulations.

To get started on creating a written safety program, you must seek input from your employees. Some experts suggest naming a safety director and/or safety committee to develop, implement and monitor safety activities. You may also want to consider consulting with safety specialists and/or legal counsel, but remember the most successful and effective safety programs are those that employees help to design, operate and update.

In order to develop a program, you must assess your risks. Start by having regular facility inspections to see if there are any hazards that may lead to accidents. A good facility inspection program begins with a baseline inspection to see where you stand right now. Look at your building for fire safety issues. Evaluate your equipment for age and condition. When you identify a hazard, determine its severity and the ease of correcting it. Develop a plan, timetable and budget for implementing corrective action.

You also have to watch for unsafe acts in the workplace. Make sure that when it rains or snows that the water is properly removed so as not to create slippery areas. See that tools are not left out or in an area where someone may trip or fall over them. Use cleaners or degreasers to remove any oily residue that may cause slippery conditions in bays or the basement.

Once a safety program is established, it is necessary to train all employees on the policies and procedures. This will ensure that the program is followed correctly.

Like any ongoing project, the workplace safety plan and training need to be evaluated at regular intervals to ensure that both address the most current workplace-safety issues. Establish a schedule for the store or committee to review the types of accidents and injuries that have taken place either on a quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis. The team should also review the “near misses” reports to determine what areas are posing possible hazards that have not yet resulted in injuries or accidents. After each survey, the team should present a report that is shared with all employees. If possible, the safety “results” should be posted to identify those areas that were particularly problematic. Training should be scheduled to cover these areas and the program should include the issues pertaining to the accidents or injuries. Routine in-service training for all technicians will keep staff alert and sharp as to safety policies, procedures and expectations.

Managers should be responsible for daily monitoring of workplace safety practices and should be held accountable for mentoring, advising and counseling technicians who are not performing up to par. The managers should have the authority to recommend a staff member for remedial training, as required.

Because employees are essential to the success of the safety program, safety incentives should be incorporated into the program. By using incentives, it promotes safety and increases safety awareness. The more you promote safety the better results you can expect.

While positive reinforcements are effective in a safety program, your program must allow for the employee who continually breaks the rules and resists all efforts to comply. Treat policy violations the same as you would treat violations of any other company policy.

By developing a safety program and training your staff on its procedures, you are on your way to protecting your employees and your business from potential disaster.

 

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