Safework Solutions supports OSHA's Safe and Sound Week, a nationwide event held in August (9-15, 2021) that recognizes the successes of workplace health and safety programs and offers information and ideas on how to keep America's workers safe. Identification and management of workplace hazards before they cause injury or illness is one of the pillars of OSHA’s Safe and Sound Week. Our Safework Suite Hazard Reporter Software aligns with OSHA’s recommendations for a successful safety and health program.
Managing improvements in hazard identification and control can be challenging without EHS software. Successful safety and health programs are proactive, ongoing, and require management leadership and worker participation (the two additional pillars of OSHA’s Safe and Sound Week). With this solid foundation, organizations can get better performance and safety outcomes from their hazard reporting policies and hazard correction processes.
The unfortunate reality for many organizations is that an overwhelming amount of time and effort is dedicated to paper-based hazard reporting systems, leaving little to no time to ensure that hazards are getting fixed. Safework Solutions has found that safety professionals spend up to 1/3 of their time collecting records and recording data in spreadsheets. With this system, the data is often weeks or months old by the time management assesses the reports, making timely corrective actions nearly impossible. It does not need to be this way today with the Safework Suite™ software modules.
Here are four key points where EHS software can save time, money and make a difference in your systematic approach to finding and fixing hazards in the workplace.
1. Integrate risk-based reporting
As you know, not all hazards are created equal when you consider the risks. Using a matrix in hazard reporting to classify risk provides built-in prioritization of hazards and insight into how employees perceive risks.
The Safework Suite Hazard reporter tool provides a risk assessment matrix to help employees rank how likely a hazardous task or situation is to cause an incident and how severe the consequences could be if not corrected. When employees become more educated on risk assessment, they better understand why hazard reporting is so critical to safe operations and thus, more actively participate in the reporting process.
2. Provide training for hazard identification & risk assessment
It is important to educate your workforce in hazard identification in order to foster confidence in reporting. Our Hazard Reporting Software provides a visual hazard wheel that helps employees remember the different types of energy and materials that could cause hazards. This visual
reminder allows employees to recognize and categorize hazards properly so that management can then determine whether corrective measures are in place specific to the hazard.
It is also helpful to schedule and participate in safety campaigns such as National and Global Safety Observances and give employees access to education and training materials. With our Hazard Hunt tool, you can schedule hazard hunts based on themes or focus areas in the workplace and include educational materials for employees.
3. Recognize participation and avoid a punitive policy
A good way to encourage employee hazard reporting is to ensure employees will not be penalized but instead encouraged to do so for their own improvement. Our Hazard Reporting software provides analytics that allows employees to see the quantity and locations of hazards in the form of charts and graphs so that they can see at a glance what the hazards are for themselves, be more aware of their work conditions, and see where they need to make improvements. Additionally, it is a good idea to positively recognize employee participation in hazard reporting. When employees know their efforts are recognized and appreciated, they are more likely to
participate in the safety and health program. EHS gamification available in Safework Suite can energize your employee involvement in hazard identification with:
· Leaderboards · Point scoring · Achievement badges and levels · Real-time performance reporting · Peer-to-peer competition · Recognized good catches
4. Make reporting as easy as possible
When employees can easily report hazards in a supported safety culture, your safety management system will become routine and reliable. Our EHS reporting tool provides reporting capabilities at your employees’ fingertips, from harnessing mobile technology to designating KIOSKs in the workplace. The Hazard Reporter tool provides safety professionals a more effective way to manage risk-based hazard identification, assessment, and mitigation. With automated hazard control workflows, easy-to-read reports, and data dashboards no hazard gets overlooked.
Safety improvement is an endless journey that organizations embark on but setting your organization up for success with EHS technology will make the journey more effective and achieve results, saving time and money while also preventing accidents. In this regard, Safework Suite was created by safety professionals to help clients continually improve their company's overall safety performance.
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