On April 28, 2022, we celebrate World Day for Safety and Health at Work. This day was inaugurated in 2003 by the International Labour Organization (ILO) to stress the importance of preventing accidents and diseases while at work. Workplace health and safety have been a top priority, especially in recent years, which has encouraged employers to foster a more positive safety culture. One where employees feel empowered and confident while completing their day-to-day tasks. However, creating a positive safety culture is no easy feat and cannot be done overnight.
To get a better understanding of what a positive safety culture looks like, we asked our safety subject matter experts here at Cority to provide their input on what safety means to them and how businesses can start promoting workplace safety today. Here’s what they said:
“A single, unified platform provides one single source of the truth for reporting and risks. Silos of data will not provide an accurate view of the safety risks to employees in their workplace.” – Tanya Jenke Director, Success AUS
“Organisations need to provide a safe environment for workers to report injuries. Working in an environment with reduced manpower is stressful and can have an impact on safety reporting culture. If employees are feeling vulnerable, they may fail to report an occupational injury for fear of dismissal.” – Tanya Jenke Director, Success AUS
“(Mobile integration) is key to providing a safety culture that is also engaging. Employees should feel empowered to report any risks, issues, and actions they see. Providing an easy-to-use and accessible mobile tool for this will result in better engagement and better accuracy on organizational risks.” – Tanya Jenke Director, Success AUS
“I think that safety excellence really starts with recognizing the value your people bring to the table. I’m constantly impressed at the innovative ways front-line employees solve safety problems in real-time to keep the business running that leadership is often unaware of.” – Sean Baldry Sr Product Marketing Manager CAN
“Mobile solutions are a great way to ensure that every employee can participate in safety. Remember – the people furthest from your head office influence your culture and performance just as much as those closest to it.” – Sean Baldry Sr Product Marketing Manager CAN
“Using a single unified platform accounts for all risks that can impact an employee. In a unified platform, you are able to manage the safety, environmental, health and exposure risks for your entire workforce so that nothing is missed.” – Samer Alameddine Manager, Solutions Engineering CAN
“A strong safety culture is an open one where any employee is able to voice safety concerns or stop work if they find it unsafe without having to worry about the repercussions.” – Samer Alameddine Manager, Solutions Engineering CAN
“It is much harder to have a good look at a company’s overall EHS risk without technology. EHS software allows you to assess risk from different perspectives, roll it up to an overall view and ensure that controls are implemented.” – Samer Alameddine Manager, Solutions Engineering CAN
“Mobility allows employees to capture safety items immediately so that they can be addressed quickly. This can be items like near misses, incidents, and even safety observations. A lot of times employees forget about these events that they witness by the time they are behind a computer. Mobility empowers the employees to document any safety concerns immediately and with detail.” – Samer Alameddine Manager, Solutions Engineering CAN
“Having all EHS data in a single platform allows organizations to standardize processes to collect real, actionable data. The ability to collect and analyze meaningful EHS data quickly allows organizations to identify risks sooner and make decisions that keep employees safe and healthy.” – Alex Folk Sr Solutions Consultant USA
“Proactively identifying and mitigating risks is made easier through EHS software. Software allows you to standardize your processes, automate your workflows, and quickly put in place preventative measures before an incident occurs.” – Alex Folk Sr Solutions Consultant USA
“Strong safety culture to me means that Safety is part of the “DNA” of the organization in that it lives everywhere in the organization and is everyone’s responsibility. It’s not a department or a person.” – Sasha Finley Implementation Consultant CAN
“Software allows you to really look hard at trends, it allows you to organize and report your data in a way that promotes continual improvement and a proactive approach to safety.” – Sasha Finley Implementation Consultant CAN
Creating a positive safety culture with the appropriate leadership, technology, and resources requires buy-in and engagement from everyone at the company and cannot be done with only a select few. For this year’s World Day for Safety and Health at Work, we encourage workers to influence change within their organization by using their voices to address safety concerns or suggest improvements to their safety program. To learn more about encouraging stronger employee engagement, read our blog 5 Tactics to Build Stronger Employee Engagement for a Safer Workplace.
