How Do I Get Management Commitment to Safety?
Slide Two: Introduction
Getting management to commit to security is not easy, mainly because most of them do not see the need to invest in the function in the organizations. However, committing to safety is essential because it helps the organizations to be able to cut the costa that it incurs. For instance, when it comes to compensating the employees in case of accidents.
Slide Three: Compensation of employees
Accidents happen once now and then, and it is essential to have in place measures that can reduce accidents from happening. This can only be managed by getting the management to commit to safety. Failure to do so, the company is faced with high compensation costs. This is because the more accidents that the company has, the higher the premiums. When a company does not have personnel monitoring the claims carefully, it will take the company about three months to come to this realization. This is because the claim remains as part of the formula for three years.
Slide Four; Experience modification Factor
The experience modification factor refers to a company’s safety score about the worker’s compensation insurance coverage. Employee performs duties that put them at risk daily, and this makes make the management team how the company is scoring when it comes to safety. Experience modification factor is essential because employers can find out their safety score and know the areas that they need to improve in.
Slide Five: Cont.:
The companies need to get a policyholder experience compensation rating worksheet. This helps the company to see what their mode is, and this will also guide them on the changes that they need to make, which will, in return, decrease the number of accidents taking place in the organization.
Slide Six: OSHA
It is common for organizations to think that they are safe because they have in place OSHA. However, this is not enough. Accidents will still happen if there is OSHA in place, and it will always be expensive for the organization. A good example is that of a company that had a Lockout Tag Accident where a pregnant woman was killed. The company paid $6MM+ as compensation.
Slide Seven: Cost
The organization must be able to put into consideration both direct cost and indirect of accidents. In most cases, the indirect costs are typically ignored. Examples of indirect costs include; Worker overtime, employee morale, potential fines and penalties, administrative fees, and production over time. Same as the direct costs, indirect cost also results in the organization incurring a lot of costs.
Slide Eight: Activities that bring the frequency down
It essential that the organization can put in place measures that will bring down their frequency. This entails
- conducting an assessment of the workplace.
- Developing a list of things that need to be implemented.
- Revisiting the existing safety program
- Conducting formal safety training
- Enhancing accountability
It is vital to make sure that everyone is involved in the process. For instance, all the managers of organizations have to be involved. This will be important when it comes to making them see the importance of safety as well as enhancing accountability. For instance, regional managers become defensive when their regions are not doing well. They all work toward making sure that there is security.
Slide Nine: Use of Safety numbers or Emotions
In some cases, appealing to the management team by use of safety number is not enough. This is because some of the managers are moved by emotion. For instance, the thought of losing an employee. Making the management team see that they can lose employees if they do not commit to safety will make them reconsider. If a company does not want to lose the critical people that it has, it is essential they put in place a security program and make sure that it is updated. A lot of recruiting and training cost is incurred in the process.
Slide Ten: In Conclusion
To convince the management to commit to safety, it is essential to give them what they need and not necessarily what they want. This should be done at the right time and should be presented to the right person; otherwise, it will not work. It is also essential to lay down the groundwork. This entails telling down the organization everything that they will need. This helps in making sure that they are prepared.