In every industry, from construction to manufacturing, industrial to biochemistry, workers do less than intelligent things. People take shortcuts, site changes happen without proper notification, and new hazards are introduced to job tasks and projects. For these reasons, it's critical for managers or supervisors to communicate with staff regularly to minimize risks and decrease injuries.
According to data collected from SafetyPlusWeb™ -- Safety Plus Inc’s comprehensive safety management software, utilized by over one thousand companies across the USA – as of August 1, 2021, 25,652 safety meetings and 29,930 safety audits have been captured across the platform. These meetings and audits have significantly helped clients reduce injuries and near misses by over 40%.
In the grand scheme of a comprehensive safety program, safety meetings are critical and play a significant role in worker safety.
At Safety Plus Inc., we believe there are 6 key elements to an effective safety program that enable us to deliver aggressive risk management solutions that generate significate returns on investment by reducing employee-related risks. Here's how safety meetings fall into each of the 6 key elements:
1) Hazard Assessment & Correction – Safety meetings allow management and employees to take time to talk about potential job or site hazards and proactively correct them before they cause injury. They are especially beneficial when starting work at a new job site or before employees begin a new type of job.
2) Training – Although not a replacement for training, safety meetings can refresh employees on prior training or specialized courses.
3) Policies & Procedures – According to our data from SafetyPlusWeb safety management software, when safety meetings are incorporated into company safety policies as a mandatory safety procedure, injury-related incidents decrease. Some companies have seen injuries decrease by up to 40%!
4) Accident Investigation – When accidents occur, accident investigations must take place to identify the root cause and various other factors that lead up to the incident. Supervisors can utilize past accident investigations with the approval and discretion of management to share stories during safety meetings of what was done correctly and incorrectly. These types of situational safety meetings can help prevent the same mistakes from happening again.
5) Measurement – Measurement is key to any effective safety program, and that's something that our safety management software, SafetyPlusWeb, helps companies accomplish. By looking at the analytics, managers and supervisors can identify trends that can help guide the topics and delivery of safety meetings. As an example, according to our data, more accidents occur on Wednesdays, therefore, it may be beneficial for companies new to safety meetings to begin by giving them on Wednesdays. Companies that utilize our safety management software can also identify the types of injuries that occur often. As an example, if sprains or strains are common recurrences, supervisors may want to make it a point to schedule safety meetings, with the topics around how to avoid sprains and strains.
6) Management Commitment – Safety meetings are a fantastic way to show management's commitment to the team's safety and success. As Safety Plus's Chief Innovation Officer Rob Cowden suggests, "we need to set our managers and supervisors up for success by creating policies and procedures that make sense and that are useable. In addition, they need to contain stuff that can be passed down to new hires and anyone working on a job site."
Safety meetings are simple and effective and serve as a support beam to a comprehensive safety management program. They bolster understanding of training, reinforce policies, and allow staff to implement procedures to help to keep worker safety top of mind. To learn more about SafetyPlusWeb, schedule a demo today or set up a time to talk with one of our safety experts.