Why an Effective Policy Management Framework is Essential to Workplace Safety

What is your organization doing to maintain workplace health and safety? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost 3 million workers are injured every year on the job, and the costs of a potential incident can be incredibly high when you factor in loss of production time, loss of resources, lower morale, and potential penalties.

In the midst of a global pandemic, workplace health and safety is all the more important, and your organization needs an effective policy management framework to ensure that your employees are kept safe and proper health protocols are maintained. Organizations need to ensure that:

• Workplace health and safety policies are kept up to date and are relevant to current potential hazards - These policies act as a playbook for your employees, giving them guidance on how to carry out their roles in a safe and responsible manner.
• Health and safety inspections are mandated – Your organization needs to look for potential safety risks and provide safety and health checklists for each workplace location.
• Employees are trained and policies effectively communicated – Employees need to be trained on your organizations workplace health and safety policy and procedure manual. This includes taking them through the risks they could be exposed to on the job and explaining and demonstrating how they should protect themselves.
• Employees are held accountable – Your organization needs to include safety responsibilities in employee performance evaluation. This helps create clear safety goals, disciplinary actions, and establishing a reporting system for potential hazards and incidents.

No organization can prevent all injuries from taking place at your business, but you can take the right steps to prevent many incidents from ever occurring. Workplace health and safety policies can help your organization identify emerging risks and take action to protect your employees.