Building an Effective Safety Culture

More tools for the Safety Professionals Toolbox

Presented by:

● Jim Rhoad

● Dustin Boss

Certified Risk Architects with Ottawa Kent Insurance

Welcome: Building an Effective Safety Culture

● Welcome to our discussion on Safety Culture and going Beyond the Safety Program

● We are excited to be here and looking forward to discussing safety culture and the best ways to develop one at your place of business.

Management Buy-in Essentials

● A lot of elements are important when implementing a safety program and even further with a safety culture.

● But none of them are going to matter unless top management buys in and allows a safety culture to develop

Elements in Safety Culture

● Element #1 - Management, Leadership and Employee Involvement.

● Element #2, – Prevention Worksite Analysis and Hazard Prevention and Control.

● Element #3 – Pro-Active Safety and Health Training and Education.

Management doesn’t know, what they don’t know

● Few top business leaders can tell you how to develop and enhance their safety culture.

● And more importantly why they should even want a safety culture in the first place.

Obtain Management Buy-In

● As the safety manager, HR person, owner responsible for safety results and building a safety culture your first and most important goal is to get buy-in from your management team.

“Effective safety management systems are woveninto the fabric of an organization,becoming part of the culture, the way that people dotheir jobs.—National Safety Council website (2013)

Goals● The goal is to have top

management (everyone) believing that a good safety culture can and will help to reduce injuries and illnesses along with the associated hidden costs. Also, a good safety culture can...

● increase efficiency● improve productivity● morale● and/or quality of

products● and reduce the

potential for regulatory citations

“Today managers are changing worker behavior by coaching employees and teaching safety leadership skills, so that

employees can make safe choices on their own. The culture of safety establishes expected patterns of behavior.

Managers don’t just threaten employees. Instead, bosses and co-workers are empowered to reward one another when

something is done the right way. And you, the safety manager, are the one who makes it possible.” -360training.com

How do we get there?● What are businesses in

business for? To be safe? No! It's about the money!

● And don't confuse money for greed! Business owners may report to a board, they need to meet revenue goals, etc.

● Management teams must agree that safety does save money!

● Before we get into developing a safety culture business owners should understand the implication of cost to your business. ……

EDUCATE MANAGEMENT: Quick Review on potential costs/liabilities businesses face:• Work Comp Claims• Experience Modification• Return to Work• Contesting Citations/ Lawsuits

Financial Impact Of Claims

● Hidden costs can have a sizeable impact on a business’s profitability. A business with a 4-percent profit margin must sell an additional $125,000 in products or services to pay

for just $5000 in hidden accident costs.

Break it down...To cover a $5,000 claim...

● A soft drink bottler would have to bottle and sell more than 61,000 cans of soda

● A food packer would have to can and sell more than 235,000 cans of corn

● A bakery would have to bake and sell more than 235,000 donuts

● A contractor would have to pour and finish 3,000 square feet of concrete

● A ready-mix company would have to deliver 20 truckloads of concrete

● A paving contractor would have to lay 900 feet of two-lane asphalt road

FREE TIP-OSHA’S Safety Pays

● https://www.osha.gov/dcsp/smallbusiness/safetypays/estimator.html

Employers can use the “Safety Pays" to assess the impact of occupational injuries and illnesses on their profitability. This program uses a company's profit margin, the average costs of an injury or illness, and an indirect cost multiplier to project the amount of sales a company would need to generate to cover those costs.

● As you can see, incidents are more expensive than many business leaders realize!

● Beyond that, there are many hidden costs that are not truly understood.

● Some costs are obvious while other costs are transparent.

● Your workers’ compensation claims cover medical costs and indemnity payments for an injured employee. These are the direct costs of incidents.

Direct Vs. Indirect Costs

Much more than just medical and wages!

● What about the costs to train and compensate a replacement employee?

● Repair damaged property or equipment, ● downtime of equipment● investigating the incident,● implementing corrective actions?● OSHA Fines

● Even less apparent are the costs related to● product schedule delays (production delays)● added administrative time, ● Business reputation● lower morale, ● increased absenteeism, ● pain and suffering of the employee,● and impaired customer relations.

● These are the indirect costs and, as such, have been described by many professionals as an iceberg. You cannot see the bottom until it is too late

Costs are rising● In the real world, management

can be perceived as risk-takers, willing to do anything to be competitive with other companies to produce a profit.

● However, on the other side of the spectrum, there is one gamble that can be a sure loss for any manager● Gambling on employee safety

and the risk of incidents that can cause injury or property damage [11].

● Managers are now coming to realize that the actual cost of a lost workday injury is underestimated.

Experience Modification: Split Point Change Impact

● Due to inflationary trends in loss severity, the split point should change over time to remain sensitive to disparities in loss experience. However, NCCI hasn’t increased the split point since 1991, despite a significant increase in the average cost of claims. Beginning Jan. 1, 2013, NCCI will introduce changes to rectify this by increasing the split point in non-monopolistic states (click here for effective dates PDF).

● Why is it changing?Ultimately, the effectiveness of an experience rating modification system lies in its ability to accurately and consistently differentiate between, and adequately correct for, disparities between policyholders.

OLD 2013 2014 2015 $-

$5,000.00

$10,000.00

$15,000.00

$20,000.00

$25,000.00

PrimaryExcess

*Example of a $25,000 claim under the current split point and what it will look like under the new changes

Experience Modification ImpactUnder the old formula, any ratable individual loss up to $5,000 was known as primary loss (those given full weight and reflect frequency) and excess losses (those given partial weight and reflect severity) was anything greater than $5,000. In other words, the portion of an employee injury considered primary and accounting for 100% in the experience mod calculation is set at $5,000. All claims over the split point are discounted by the weighting factor. For individual claims below $5,000, the entire amount is primary loss and excess loss is $0.Due to inflation, policyholder modified premiums, especially for those policyholders with exceptionally good or poor loss experience, are no longer adequately modified. As a result, “good” risks are overcharged and “poor” risks are undercharged. This reduces the incentive for policyholders to maintain or improve their workplace safety standards and practices.

How is the split point changing?For NCCI states and most independent bureaus (including Michigan and Wisconsin) the experience modification split point will be changing according to the following schedule:

Date                        Split Point2013                  $10,0002014                  $13,500

2015                  $15,000 + 2 years Inflation to closest $500 Beyond 2015       Inflation matched to 2015 level

NCCI is estimating that 78% of mods will be impacted by +/- 5 points when the $10,000 split point is applied. With this change, the minimum experience mod that any business can achieve will decrease due to the increase in expected primary losses.

What does this mean?  In the short term if you have a claim over $15,000 it will cost you more. Essentially with payrolls the same a debit mod could get worse and credit mod could get better.

In the long term every business will have greater control over costs by taking control of their losses. Workers’ compensation is the only line of insurance where employers have the ability to control costs. This is done by hiring the right people, creating safe work environments and implementing safety policies, selecting the right physicians for injured workers, developing effective return-to-work programs, etc.

TIP-Work Comp SurchargeWHAT TO KNOW:

Current Experience Modification Rate

● Check accuracy

Minimum Experience Modification Rate

Claims Analysis

● Indemnity vs. Medical Only

*Experience Modification is biggest indicator for work comp pricing

Return to Work ProgramInformation from the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that:

● Only 50% of employees who are off work for six months with a work-related

injury will return to work● Only 25% of employees who are off work for one year with a work-related

injury will return to work● Employees who are off work for two years with a work-related injury have

virtually no chance of returning to work

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?????

GET PEOPLE BACK TO WORK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

Return to Work- TemplateSTEP 1-Establish Written Return to Work PolicyCreate a written document signed and agreed on by management. This is the basis to implementing an effective Return to Work Program and all changes must be communicated with your employees.STEP 2- Assign Responsibility1- Senior leadership needs to be the force which changes the culture2- HR (Safety/Health Professional)Depending on the size of the company you will most likely assign this to HR unless you have the luxury of a full time health professional.3- Work Comp Coordinator- Acts as the liaison for all work related and non-work related injuries and illnesses. This role will oversee the work comp program, Return to Work Program, ADA, FMLA4- Manager/ Supervisor- Accountable and responsible for the safety management practices implemented in his area.

Return to Work- TemplateSTEP 3- Job Safety AnalysisEstablish a written job description for each job category within your organization. Define the major tasks performed and list all related knowledge and skills required. Each specific job task should be identified as either essential or non-essential to the job.

STEP 4- Hiring PracticesPlace the right person in the right position to reduce work compensation risks/claims. Take the time to have a thorough interview/ on-boarding process. establish orientation and training programs for new and transferred employees.

STEP 5- Medical ProviderWork with and select a qualified medical provider

Return to Work- TemplateSTEP 6- Incident InvestigationWhat happens after an incident occurs?STEP 7- Manage the ClaimEffective claims management is more than just waiting on the insurance company and injured employee. With the correct claim management you can make the process hassle free and reduce the pain of increased costs and surcharges.STEP 8- Return the Employee to WorkDepending on the strategy and severity of the claim the employee will eventually be back to work. Make sure that if they are able not to return to their full time job, the transitional job is within the injured employee’s restrictions.*This is a brief outline of creating a Return to Work Program and by no means has all the information you need. Within each step there are many more elements that are crucial for the program’s success.

Return to Work Checklist

Why RTW mattersExample of EMOD rate equations:

If the three-year history of experience rating for an operation was 1.10, 1.00, 0.88, the

payment history would be:

1.10 × $38,233 = $42,056

1.00 × $38,233 = $38,233

0.88 × $38,233 = $33,645

What About My Profits?

The direct and indirect costs related to an accident or incident can have a dramatic effect on your

profitability. The following example identifies what these costs can mean to you. (In this example

we’ll arbitrarily use $8,500 as the average direct cost of a single cumulative trauma disorder.)

Direct Cost = $8,500

Indirect Cost = $34,000

Total Loss $42,500 (this case is four times the direct cost — some cases may be as high as 10 times the direct cost)

● Shifting liability back to employee.

● The premise is that is would be unfair to cite the employer who has promoted safety, trained his employees for something that could not be prevented. (essentially what an accident is)

Contesting Citations:Un Preventable Employee

Misconduct

Contesting Citation:

The OSHA Field Operations Manual says to prevail on the affirmative defense of “Unpreventable Employee Misconduct –the employer must show that it…

1. Established a work rule adequate to prevent the violation (Safety Policy)

2. Effectively communicated the rule to employees; (Training, safety committees, signed agendas or quizzes)

3. Established methods for discovering violations of work rules, and yet did not know about an isolated violation of the work rules; and (Audits dates and findings)

4. Established effective enforcement of the rule when violations are discovered (discipline policy in handbook and document discipline even verbal)

1- Create a written Safety Policy

● Must address the hazards most frequently encountered by your employees.

● Work rules must be as strict or stricter than the OSHA standards.

● Work rules need to be in writing.

● Work rules should be distributed to all● Have employees sign and agree (Handbook

and Safety Policy)

● General Standards in Safety Policy

2) Communicate the rules to your employees

● Ensure new employees are properly trained prior to being sent to work. ● Examine your orientation program: New Hire and Worker Transfer

● No “grace period” granted by OSHA for new employees.

● Signed Forms for safety policy and handbook

● Continued training-Risk Management ● Videos, personal reviews or work

● Educate employee regarding most frequently encountered hazards

● Industry specific risks

● Review portions of work rules and OSHA standards

● Distribute hand-outs

2) Communicate the rules to your employees

● Maintain documentation

● date, names of individuals in attendance, trainer, translator, detail specific topics covered, job site or location of class

● Hold class in Spanish as well as English

● Safety Committees

● Management should run or be involved

● maintain strict records of meeting agendas, sign in sheet and subject matters

● Discipline supervisor for failure to hold meeting or for failure to return documentation in timely manner

● Periodically use guest speaker or do demonstration to enforce safety

● Insurance Agent, Risk Manager

● Other Vendor- Fleet Safety, Hi-Los, Wellness Coaches, OSHA Consultants

3) Take Steps to Discover Violations

● Safety inspections, walkthroughs, audits ● Detect hazard

● written up hazards condition and abatement taken

● Detect work rule violation

● write up employee(s)

● Use other resources to do periodic safety inspections● Company safety representative

● Top company management officials

● Worker compensation carrier

● General liability carrier

● Outside consultant/auditor

● Sub-contractor

● Question laborers

4) Discipline: Enforce and document violations● Does your company have a disciplinary system?

● Is it in writing?

● Is it in or referenced in the work rules?

● Do the employees know they can be disciplined for violation of work rules?

● Do the supervisors know they can, and will be disciplined for failing to discipline an employee for violating the work rules?

● Do you document verbal warnings?

● Do you track discipline?

● Have you suspended or terminated an employee for violating your safety rules?

● Are employees aware that other employees have been disciplined for violating work rules?

● Your safety program must enforce the safety rules

● Document discipline

Prove the Un Preventable Employee Misconduct

QUESTION: OSHA cited my company because an employee was found not wearing safety glasses.  There is no dispute the employee was not wearing the glasses, or that it was required (it is), but the employee was violating our strict safety glass policy.  Do we have any defenses?

To have evidence to prove the Un Preventable Employee Misconduct defense you need to demonstrate that:

1. Employer has an established PPE policy that addresses the type of PPE for which the employer was cited;

2. All employees (including the employee who was found not wearing the PPE) have been trained on the PPE policy;

3. Employer conducts regular audits of the workplace to ensure employees are following the PPE policy

4. Employees are disciplined when they are found to be in violation of the PPE policy (or other safety rules).

Educate management to get Buy-In● Now that you have some tangible numbers

to influence your ownership you can get buy-in.1. Experience Mod Info2. Claims Cost3. Work Comp Surcharge from

mismanaged claims4. Potential for contesting violations and

lawsuits

● Once you have the buy-in, then business leaders say, go for it!

● Build a safety program● “BUT I expect to have no injuries! Make it

happen! SAVE ME MONEY….Or else!

Here is the “quick fix” to create safety program

● To build your safety program, you’ll have written safety programs or plans. Which kind you create will depend on your industry, but common programs include:

● Fall protection● Hearing, respiratory,

and/or vision protection● General accident

prevention● Personal protective

equipment● Hazardous material

handling

Common components of workplace safety plans include:

• Risk assessment and consultation• Safeguarding (machines or processes)• Employee competency training• Document retention• Change management• Technology solutions• Safety committees• Return-to-work procedures following incidents• Incident investigation and reporting• Inspections

* Note we do encourage and recommend every company to implement written safety plans and components into their workplace. However this is like a band aid to an amputee. It is not a long term solution

Building a safety program● Safety programs typically

consisted of the usual things: for example ● safety meetings ● facility inspections● incident investigations to

some degree (not getting at the root cause) (identify solutions), with little emphasis on identifying and correcting hazards.

● Most professionals perceived these tools as the essential elements of a safety program.

Does management really buy in?● But then they walk into the

plant floor without safety glasses

● Forced overtime ● Skipped safety training

because production was in need

●Lower budget for PPE● But we, as safety managers,

are still responsible for no injuries!!!

● NO CHANGE IN CULTURE WITHOUT MANAGEMENT BUY IN

Safety Culture- Go Beyond the Safety Program

● That brings to the core of our seminar today.

● How do we move beyond safety program and get a safety culture?

No Silver Bullet

● Let me let u in on a little secret...● There is no silver bullet

● And...unfortunately, it may not be possible for you!

● A safety culture requires an certain view of management and management style.

No Silver Bullet

● What works in one organization may not in another. Each organization must determine for itself what will work for it.

● There are several major concepts.● The answer seems to be clear: it

is the culture of management and the employees of the organization that determines what will work in any organization

What is your culture?

● Certain cultures do have safety as one of their major constituent values, and not a priority.

● Other cultures make it very clear that safety is unimportant. In the latter, almost nothing will work; ● Meetings will be boring● Hide claims● No disciplinary action● job hazard analysis (JHAs) are

perceived only as paperwork [3, 4].

It begins with culture

● The culture of an organization sets the tone for everything in the safety arena.

● In a positive safety culture, the culture itself says that everything you do about safety is important.

● In a participative environment (culture), an organization is saying to the employee, “I want and need your help.” Some cultures urge creativity and innovative solutions, while others destroy them by not caring about their employees.

● Some cultures tap the employees for ideas and help, while others force employees to never use their brains at work [3, 4]. The following list outlines some specific elements of a culture:

Elements of Culture ● How are decisions made?● Does an organization spend available funds on employees and safety? Or are these ignored in favor of other things—for example, production, quality, new equipment, or other business opportunities?

● How are employees measured? Is safety measured as tightly as production with defined activities? What is measured tightly is what is important to management.

● How are employees rewarded? Is there a greater reward for productivity than for safety? This shows management’s real priorities (values).

● Is teamwork mastered? Or is it “us versus them”? In safety, is it “police versus policed”?

● What is the history? What are your traditions?● Is your management system in place to protect employees or to comply with regulations?

Elements of Culture ● Is your management system in place to protect employees or to comply with regulations?

● Are supervisors required to do safety tasks daily?

● Do big “bosses” (top management) walk around the facility and talk to employees?

● Are you allowed to use to use your brain or are you just a puppet (gopher)?

● Has your company downsized? Is there always a threat of downsizing?

● Is the company profitable? Too much? Too little? Is the company satisfied with its level of profit? Or do they just want more and more, never getting enough?

● Can managers and supervisors talk about safety as they can about quality and production? [3, 4]

Culture dictates results

● As you can see, a culture is defined by an infinite number of things.

● It is more important to understand what the culture is than to understand why it is that way [3, 4].

● We have suggested that culture dictates which program elements will work and which will not.

● Culture dictates results, and what the incident record will be. This is true no matter whether we look at frequency or severity [3, 4].

Douglas McGregor

● In many cases, a culture fails based on the management style.

● Every management “rules” with a different style.

● Douglas McGregor, who specialized in human behavior in organizations,

● Famous for his formulation of Theory X (authoritarian management) versus Theory Y.

● Such assumptions, McGregor pointed out, had a deep implication for management. ● Where Theory X offered management an easy scapegoat for failure, because of its

emphasis on the innate nature and limitations of its human resources Theory Y placed all problems “squarely in the lap of management.”

● If employees were lazy or unwilling to show initiative or responsibility, if they were indifferent or intransigent, the fault lay in management methods.

Theory X and Y

● In other words, McGregor was redefining the old military adage: “There are no bad troops, only bad officers” [2].

● Theory Y challenged management “to innovate, to discover new ways of organizing and directing human effort,

Values and Culture: Reactive, Proactive, Predictive

● When we talk about ways to change or create a proactive safety culture, we need to recognize and understand the full impact that values have on an organization.

Social Mirror

● If you view these concepts from the other side of the fence (the human side), you will find that employees bring their own set of personal beliefs and judgment to an organization.

● This forms the foundation of unique personal characteristics and is sometimes difficult to change because people are shaped and influenced early in life by our parents and our social environment.

● “Most people are a function of the social mirror, scripted by the opinion, the perceptions, the paradigms of the people around them”

Normal

● How about norms? Do values become norms? Is this how we operate a business?● Norms have been described as unwritten rules, beliefs, attitudes, and/or practices that

demonstrate proper or improper action. Norms can become expressions of personal and organizational values .

● Many professionals will say that norms can be accomplished through observable behaviors of employees.

● For example, we believe that everyone can remember when a member of management knowingly permits an employee to operate equipment without proper guarding or without wearing personal protective equipment (PPE.) Why?

● Probably because the manager “did not have the time” to say any- thing to the employee or it would have slowed production.

● In these unspoken words, this is known as: “Production is #1 and safety is not important.” ● The norm is to take chances if the objective is to speed up production.

Safety Culture

Safety Culture

● Although climate is difficult to define, it is easy to see and feel.

● According to Petersen, “Probably the best definition I’ve ever heard on culture came from a worker I interviewed who stated, ‘Culture is the way it is around here.’ It’s the unwritten rules of the ballgame that the organization is playing.

● Culture is what everybody knows, and therefore it does not have to be stated or written down”

Safety Culture

● Safety climate reflects if safety is perceived by all employees to be a “key value” in the organization.

● The terms “climate” and “culture” are both used here [3,

● The question is: has a safety climate (culture) been created that is conducive to adopting safe work attitudes and habits [3, 4]?

Concept of Culture

● The concept of culture became a very popular management subject in the early 1980s, because of the popularity of a book written by Peters and Waterman, In Search of Excellence.

● That book described what it was that accounted for the economic success of a number of companies.

● Other books followed, delving into the concept [3, 4].

Organizational Climate/Culture

● The concept of culture had been around long before In Search of Excellence was published.

● Dr. Rensis Likert wrote a book called The Human Organization, where he described his research on “trying to” understand the difference in “styles” of different companies, and how these “styles” affected the bottom line.

● Dr. Likert coined the term “Organizational Climate.” We now call it culture [3, 4].

Culture

● According to Petersen, Likert believed that participative management was the best kind, and the most likely to produce results.

● Some of his contemporary management thinkers criticized him for flatly assuming that group discussion was the only path to good decision-making and thereby abandoning or ignoring the search for better techniques of problem solving or decision-making [2].

Participative Management● Participative management is defined as

a management style in which leaders place emphasis on employees’ involvement in the management process.

● This is usually accomplished by providing employees with ample opportunities to become involved in the processes of setting goals, making suggestions, improving company operations, and solving problems.

● The basic premise for participative management is to shift the burden of decision making from the sole shoulders of managers and supervisors onto the entirety of the company. This provides a number benefits to various types of businesses.

Climate Defined● Likert not only researched climate; he also defined

it as being excellent in ten areas:● Confidence and trust● Interest in the subordinate’s future● Understanding of and the desire to help

overcome problems Training and helping the subordinate to perform better

● Teaching subordinates how to solve problems rather than giving the answers

● Giving support by making available the required physical resources Communicating information that the subordinate must know to do the job as well as information needed to identify more with the operation

● Seeking out and attempting to use ideas and opinions Approachability

● Crediting and recognizing accomplishments

Measuring Climate● Likert invented a way to measure climate

with a forced choice questionnaire that he administered to employees to find out their perception of how good the company is in the ten areas.

● He later took the perception survey results and ran correlation studies with things like profitability, return on investment, growth, and other bottom-line figures, invariably coming up with extremely high positive correlation.

● Apparently, climate determines results [3, 4].

● Likert’s research method was based on detailed questionnaires, asking employees a series of questions about their supervisors.

● He then drew up a profile of each supervisor/manager in light of how they were viewed by the employees [2].

Perception Survey

Management Styles

● Exploitative authoritarian● Benevolent authoritarian● Consultative● Participative

Exploitative Authoritarian

● Management is by fear and coercion, where communication is top-down, decision-making is done at the top with no shared communication, and management and employees are psychologically far apart.

Benevolent Authoritarian

● Management is by carrot rather than stick, but employees are still subservient; such information that flows upward is mainly what the manager is thought to want to hear, and policy decisions are taken at the top, with only minor ones delegated to a lower level.

Consultative

● Management uses both carrot and stick and does try to talk to employees; communication flows both ways, but is still somewhat limited upward; important decisions are still taken top down.

Participative

● Management provides economic rewards and is con- cerned to get employees involved in groups capable of making decisions;

● it sets challenging goals and works closely with employees to encourage high performance.

● Communication flows easily in both directions and sideways to peers; management and employees are psychologically close.

● Decision-making is done through participative processes; work groups are integrated into the formal structure of the organization by creating a series of overlapping groups, each linked to the rest of the organization by a “linking pin,” preferably a team leader or departmental manager, who will be a member of both group and management.

Conformance Appraisal● Before we begin our journey, let discuss one

more misunderstood concept: audits. ● How many “audits” have you performed?● What does the word audit mean?

● Typically, it means that you have to find something wrong. In one author’s opinion, this is the case with most auditors. ● We need to get over this attitude and stop

looking for all the “bad” things that have happened.

● We encourage you to look at “audit” as a “conformance appraisal,” which means looking at your management system to see how it conforms to your expectations.

● This will help you to keep a positive focus on conformance to practices and procedures of the man-agement system and/or program requirements. We continually need to understand how to focus on the positive aspects of safety.

Management Behaviors

● One thing that we often forget that is as important as, if not more important than, employee behaviors is management behaviors.

● If management is trying to create or improve the safety management system, they need to make sure that they demonstrate the same behaviors they expect from their employees.

● Employees are watching management care- fully during any process change.

● If management’s personal behavior is not consistent with the verbal and written messages they are sending, then the process will not work, the safety culture will not be trustworthy, and the management system will fail.

Management System

● The management system and the safety program should be evaluated to make sure that it is effective and appropriate to specific workplace conditions.

● The management system must be revised in a timely manner to identify and help correct infractions during a management system evaluation

● It is a living process—you must continue to feed the system.

Management SystemIf you are part of top management, you have assigned specific responsibilities to your managers and supervisors.

You want to avoid● trying to undermine their authority and interfere with their accountability,

● since that may hurt their ability to effectively carry out their assigned responsibilities.● At the same time, you want to make sure that you demonstrate

your own commitment to help increase awareness.

How do you walk this fine line between being the doer and being the implementer?

The following are some suggestions that can help you to achieve a balance:

• Hold all managers and supervisors accountable for their activities

• Work with your employees to develop a comprehensive safety program

• Encourage employee participation to use established reporting systems

• Forge a partnership with all managers and supervisors to help encourage employee participation to speak out and use the established system

• The success of any safety meeting depends on how you create a climate where employees feel free to speak up, and how you handle the questions.

Employee Participation Involving all employees in the management system is one of the most effective approaches

you can take to develop an effective safety culture.

The following are some recommended solutions that you can use to encourage employee participation:• Show your commitment through management support and leadership. This helps your employees to believe that you want a safe workplace, whatever it takes.• Communicate clearly to your employees that a safe workplace is a condition of their employment.• Tell your employees what you expect of them. Document the requirements. Communicate to all employees specific responsibilities in the safety program, appropriate training, and adequate resources for performing specific activities that were assigned.• Get as many employees involved as possible: brainstorming, inspecting, detecting, and correcting.• Make sure that employee participation is expected as part of the job during normal working hours or as part of their assigned normal jobs.• Take your employees seriously. Implement their safety suggestions in a timely manner, or take time to explain why they cannot be implemented.• Make sure co-workers hear about it when other employee ideas are successful.

Employee Participation What can employees do to be involved? The following are some

examples of employee participation:

• Participating on joint labor—management committees (as applicable) and other advisory or specific purpose committees (short-term projects)• Conducting workplace inspections• Analyzing routine hazards in each step of a job or process (JHA), and preparing safe work practices or controls to eliminate or reduce exposure• Developing and revising the workplace safety rules• Training both current and newly hired/transferred and seasoned employees• Providing programs and presentations at safety meetings• Conducting and participating in incident investigations• Reporting hazards and fixing hazards under their control• Supporting co-workers by providing feedback on risks and assisting them in eliminating hazards• Performing a pre-use or change analysis for new equipment or processes in order to identify hazards up front before use

Leading and Lagging Indicators

● One of the issues we struggle with is focusing on OSHA Incident Rates (OIR)

● In many cases, management has a tendency to focus on how well they are doing by using numbers to measure safety program success. ● This happens with your insurance pricing as well (average you

out)● We do not have a problem with presenting these statistics to

management, but one must remember that people get hurt, not numbers.

● You must learn to focus on individuals (employees) as opposed to how the numbers line up and continue to look at leading indicators.

Change starts from the top● As top management, your visible commitment to safety can make a major

difference in the quality of your employees’ work and personal life. ● You can choose among a variety of formal and informal methods and styles for

achieving this impact. ● Demonstrate to everyone that you are vitally interested in employee safety.● Do this by making yourself accessible: encourage your employees to speak up

about safety, listen carefully, and then follow through. ● Set a good example: follow the rules, make time to carry out your safety

responsibilities, and insist that all managers and supervisors do the same. ● Make sure everyone understands that you are in charge of a business where

safety will not be compromised and where hazard awareness and safe work practices are expected of everyone, including on-site contractors and their employees.

HR’s: Bermuda Triangle

What are you as the employer eligible to provide in during an employee’s absence (illness or injury) Here are 8 steps to follow to avoid HR Bermuda triangle (ADA, FMLA, Workers comp):

ADA, FMLA, Workers Comp: Make sure you know:

● The purpose of each of the laws● Importance of analyzing (and understanding) how the laws interact● When and how the laws interact – and what to do about it

HR’s: Bermuda Triangle

Law Criteria

ADA 15 employees for 20 weeks during current or preceding calendar year

FMLA 50 employees with a 75-mile radius for a least 20 weeks during current or preceding calendar year

WC Most, even small employers - check State laws!

Step 1 Check Employer Coverage

Law Criteria

ADA Disabled employee OR applicant able to perform essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation

FMLA Employee who worked at least 12 months and 1,250 hours

WC Employee injured or ill due to work-related incident

Step 2 Check Employee Eligibility

HR’s: Bermuda Triangle

Law Length of Leave

ADA No time limit

FMLA 12 weeks or 26 weeks for Service member related illness/injury

WC No time limit

Step 3 Determine the Length of leave

Law Documentation

ADA Regarding disability that prevents or limits the performance of essential job duties

FMLA DOL Medical Certification Form

WC Pertaining to the employee’s on-the-job injury/illness

Step 4 Opting medical documentation

HR’s: Bermuda TriangleStep 5 Check benefits while on leave

Step 6 Determine if restricted or light duty available

HR’s: Bermuda TriangleStep 7 Return to work certificate available

Step 8: ReinstatementLaw Criteria

ADA Required to previous job unless an undue hardship

FMLA Same or equivalent job. NO undue hardship exception

WC Only in retaliatory discharge case

HR’s: Bermuda TriangleThese are complicated laws.

Compliance is mandatory.

Violations can be costly.

Employers have a morale and ethical responsibility to assure that employees receive the benefits and

protections these laws provide.

James Rhoad616.307.0285

jrhoad@ottawakent.com