The benefits of a strong health and safety culture within your organization
An accident-free workplace is not only the result of compliance with various occupational health and safety (OHS) standards. It requires a real commitment from each individual in the company.
A workplace cannot be considered safe simply because of training and equipment. In fact, every employer must be able to count on the commitment and willingness to act of each of its employees before being able to talk about an effective OHS culture.
The best way to integrate this OHS culture into the workplace is to implement it at the source, in the employees’ behavior and values.
Why an ohs culture?
In addition to reducing the accidents (sometimes dramatic), this culture will bring many advantages. Here are a few:
1. Attractiveness and retention rate- Today, more and more workers are looking for job security, but also a feeling of safety when doing their tasks.
- A company where OHS is taken care of by the employees is usually a well-managed company.
- Each accident affects your productivity and will have financial repercussions on all your activities.
AND DON’T FORGET THAT IT IS MANDATORY BY LAW
The Quebec Act Respecting Occupational Health and Safety clearly states in section 51 what the employer’s obligations are. The fifth paragraph specifies that the employer must “use methods and techniques intended for the identification, control and elimination of risks to the safety or health of the worker”.
HOW CAN WE DO IT?
How do you implement this culture that will ensure optimal OHS? The answer is simple; take the first steps, set an example and become a reference. It is always easier to adopt a new behavior when you have already observed it.
During this step, do not hesitate to seek the advice of professionals who can guide you and support you throughout the cultural change process.
That being said, once you’ve made a shift in prevention, you’ll have to stay on course! It may be all too easy to implement new measures and then take it for granted that they will be successful.
In order to successfully confirm this culture, monitoring practices will need to be put in place. Specific requirements must be specified at each level of the organization, and everyone must be held accountable.
These requirements will include a periodic review of risks. It is imperative that the company’s authority figures take their role seriously and set an example by becoming the face of risk prevention in the workplace.
MEASURE PROGRESS
The implementation process can take a long time to complete. You will know if this culture will remain when the employees start getting involved in the process and apply more transparency. If everyone participates and prevention becomes second nature, we can now speak of an OHS culture.
To help you implement such a culture, SPI is there for you. We can provide the coaching for your management, offer our specialized team's services to guide you through the process, and provide you with practical tools to help manage your risks.
How can SPI help you?
SPI has many certified experts on its team who will support you in implementing a culture of workplace accident prevention directly in your company.
In addition to having access to expert advice in the field, you will receive relevant tools and analyses to guide you through the next steps.
