Complete Story
12/15/2017
10 Key Employee Safety Responsibilities
By Gary Hanson
In order for a safety program to be successful it takes both the management team and each employee working together. Management clearly has the major responsibility. It is management that hires the employees, trains the employees, provides the tools and equipment, develops the schedules, establishes the importance of safety, and provides reinforcement and enforcement.
However, management can’t do it all by themselves. Employees must take an active effort to support the company’s safety program and protect themselves. Unfortunately, employees don’t always make their safety a top priority and many times they put themselves at risk in order to get the job done. Therefore, clear Employee Safety Responsibilities should be developed and clearly communicated to all employees.
There are a number of Employee Safety Responsibilities but our staff reviewed these and developed what we call the Ten Key Safety Responsibilities.
- Always get a good night’s sleep and come to work rested and ready to go to work. Fatigue robs the body of vitality and even slows down the mental ability of an employee.
- Don’t do drugs or overdue alcohol consumption.
- Report all accidents and injuries no matter how minor.
- Maintain a good safety attitude. Employees who don’t believe that safety is important to them are a risk to themselves and other employees.
- Think before you act. Safety has to be proactive not reactive.
- Follow all company safety policies and rules.
- Pay attention at all times. Be alert at all times. Don’t be in automatic pilot, keep your mind at the job at hand.
- Don’t hurry or take short cuts. Hurry is action out of control without thought and short cuts are an accident waiting to happen.
- Always inspect your tools and equipment to make sure they are safe and in good condition. Defective tools need to be reported and taken out of service.
- Practice good housekeeping at all times. Slips, trips, and falls are one of the major causes of injury. Good housekeeping goes a long way to preventing these. Good housekeeping also reflects an attitude towards safety.
These should be posted where every employee can see these and they should be reviewed with all new employees at the time of hire.
If you need any help with your safety program or employee safety training, please give me a call at 1-330-495-3437.
