Safety Management Across Large Organizations The Meeks Lumber Way

Safety Management Across Large Organizations Josh Reynolds – Safety Coordinator – 10 years with Meeks – 5+ years in safety – Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology / HR Management – OSHA 10 hr General Industry – OSHA 10 hr Construction – Class A w/ air CDL

Assessing your Safety Department First step: Look at program/s Be open to outside criticism, your ideas may not be the best Do an assessment, let the employees on all levels assess safety, be anonymous Culture assessment: do you have a safe culture (not want you think, but employees) Get Management involved

Assessing your Safety Department Identify problems – People, equipment, facilities, programs, software, communication, etc... Prevention – What can you do, and your people do to help prevent injuries and damage? – Communicate with each other, be real about facts, dollars, how it impacts them – Investigate, include supervisors, management, all involved in incident

Assessing your Safety Department Track your data! – DART – track quarterly, communicate it to locations – Injuries – types, who, what, when, where, why, and how. – Inspections – Myself, OSHA consultant, insurance companies, explain why you do it, what the benefit is, if not done how it could impact them ($$$$$$) – Communicate problems from each location, this helps prevent, and bring the locations together as a team

Assessing your Safety Department Why do all this, I mean isn't being safe just part of the job? – People are not aware of just how much it impacts them – Most people want to do their best – Keeps awareness up – Helps develop a safe culture

Developing a Safety Culture Start with a culture assessment – Get a good idea of where your culture is – Keep anonymous – Take negative criticism seriously – Include everyone – Fix the issues – Don’t do it, unless you plan on acting on it

Developing a Safety Culture Ask your middle management and supervisors the problems with safety they are facing. – Why employees will not comply – Do supervisors comply – Acknowledge what is done more than what is not done – Educate Managers, Supervisors, and Employees – Communication barrier or gaps in communication – Get the info in the right hands

Developing a Safety Culture Do as I say not as I do???? – Follow by example – Learn the jobs, or even spend time doing the job – Understand the obstacles a safety rule or PPE might create for workers, find a solution or help them to understand exactly why they need the rules or PPE’s

Developing a Safety Culture Safety Committees – Include employees and management – Have commitment – Set goals, accomplish them – Make real progress – Get ideas, implement them – Stay consistent

Relying on Your Trainers and Field People Be clear on what you want trained, how you want it trained, and why. Explain why it is important to be accurate and consistent Make it easy for your people to train and communicate the information – Intranet and bulletins – Packets, books, whatever is needed for them

Relying on Your Trainers and Field People Accountability – Ask the who, what, where, why and how – Make yourself accountable to them – Employees need to understand the trainer’s role

Meaningful and Effective Communication Make the information easy, easy to get, easy to train. – Short and sweet – Makes sense – Understand why the information is important to them – Give them the facts, and exactly what they need, not to much fluff. Safety is a tool like a hammer, it needs to be accessible and easy to use.

Meaningful and Effective Communication Remove the “fancy talk” – Know your audience and appeal to them – Computers, they are out to get me…… Show them one on one how easy it is Give them another option, remember, they have good knowledge of the job and training Research what they need – Not every location has the same situation Tailor training to locations needs

Reaching out to Employees See a problem, fix a problem (You) – Don’t promise things you know you can’t fix Be real with issues, come up with solutions Be the advocate to management for the employee Acknowledge concerns – Address them, fix them, if there is not a fix, provide answers. Don’t leave employees hanging without answers.

Reaching out to Employees Results – Provide them – With data, track what you’re doing. $$$$$/ Injury Frequency – With policies or programs – Repairs, PPE’s Provide needed PPE’s, get them, explain them

Effective Training Ask the people who were trained – Find out how they were trained – Variances in training, why it exists Locations, jobsites, facilities Does it actually work – Not just a “thing we do” – Do the employees understand it, does it really apply to them

Incentive Programs Small, but impactful – Ask committees, locations, employees – Awareness – Safety Treats Cookies, even tough guys love them Quarterly, based on injuries End of year reward (Shirts, plaques etc..) Benchmarks performance A way to say thanks for thinking about safety Raises awareness

Incentive Programs Caught in the Act – Placed on intranet for all to access – Employees nominate each other for being safe Housekeeping Personal Protective Equipment Proper Lifting Techniques Safety Communication Truck Safety Forklift Safety

Incentive Programs Driver of the Month – Random selection – Performance and MVR Most Important Part of Incentive Programs??? ALWAYS COMMUNICATE TO NEVER HIDE INJURIES!!! – Explain this thoroughly – Give examples, be sure trainers and supervisors understand and promote this

Conclusion Assess – yourself, management, programs Develop – programs that work for everyone Rely – on your people Meaningful – make safety mean something Reach out – to employees, make yourself accessible Effective – be as effective as possible Incentives – raise awareness, reward