SECURA policyholders have access to a variety of free workplace safety programs and resources to help promote safe working environments. Creating a positive safety culture within your organization can help reduce injuries and even save your business money.
Safety culture in the workplace
Safety culture is defined as shared values, actions, and behaviors that demonstrate a commitment to safety by employees and leadership at all levels of the company. Safety culture helps link safety programs, systems, and training with actual safety performance. All businesses, from accounting to construction to retail, should adopt a safety program and strive to create a proactive safety culture with their employees.
Safety culture maturity model
Safety culture in the workplace can range from passive to proactive on its maturity model. Understanding where your business is at on this journey can help in developing safety programs and communications to your associates. It helps identify your employees’ behavior as it relates to safety programs and implementation.
There are five stages of the safety culture maturity model: passive, compliant, reactive, social, and proactive. The closer your organization is to the proactive profile, the less incidents there will be. Each stage is defined below.
Passive: We don’t know why we have accidents and injuries.
Compliant: We have a safety manual, but we still have accidents and injuries.
Reactive: We know why we have accidents and injuries. Management is involved in implementing solutions.
Social: We now understand prevention is important, and we have recruited all employees to be involved in creating a safe work environment.
Proactive: We know why our safety program is successful and continue to evaluate and adapt our methods.
Proactive safety culture in the workplace
The benefits of having a proactive safety culture include higher quality solutions and reduction in insurance claims. Sometimes safety measures can be avoided or overlooked because they’re considered inconvenient or a nuisance. But, once employees understand the benefits of the safety guidelines, they can advocate for safety and recruit more employees to adopt the workplace safety programs and procedures.
Workplace safety programs, policies, and resources
Safety policies and programs are documented work processes and procedures that are communicated to employees regularly. Workplace safety programs define employee responsibilities and set expectations for behavior. Good programs include management commitment and transparent intentions.
Safety checklists, audits, and assessments
Checklists, audits, and assessments are tools used for setting a baseline measurement and methods for ongoing measuring and analyzing data. These resources help consistently assess your workplace for safety hazards and risks, even if multiple employees are responsible for conducting the assessments.
Investigations and reporting
Your workplace safety program should require that any incidents are investigated in a timely manner, findings are shared with management, and lessons learned are communicated to employees. Transparency and urgency are important for creating a proactive safety culture. Understanding the cause of an injury or near miss can help you evolve your safety program to prevent future incidents.
SECURA’s safety resources
Take advantage of our safety resources to promote safety in your business. All SECURA policyholders have access to free and discounted safety materials, including:
- Safety programs (free)
- Sample safety programs, forms, and checklists are available through your risk management consultant. These can help your business comply with regulatory requirements, minimize liability, and improve overall productivity.
- Safety talks (free)
- These free safety talks can help educate employees on potential hazards and best practices for mitigating risks. These meetings are usually 10-15 minutes in length and are conducted at the job site prior to the start of a shift.
- Safety videos (free)
- On-demand videos can be streamed anytime. Gain access or log into the video training library to see all the topics available.
- EPLI hotline and training (free)
- This free service can help you manage employment exposures and reduce or prevent costly employment claims.
- Cyber Security training (free)
- Policyholders have access to risk management tools from our cyber security partner. Improve employee awareness with proper training.
- OSHA and Hazwoper training (discounted rates available)
- We’ve partnered with Evolved Safety to provide discounted 10- and 30-hour OSHA training programs, as well as a Hazwoper refresher training for professionals engaging with hazardous waste operations.
- Learning Management System (discounted rates available)
- Access the SafetySkills Learning Management System (LMS) at a discounted rate to help identify training requirements, set goals, track progress, and more. Reach out directly to your SECURA risk management consultant for more information.
Safety assessments and continuous improvement
It’s important to evaluate your programs and culture often to look at safety performance, incidents, near misses, and hazard identifications. This data provides insights into safety gaps, trends, and areas for improvement. Safety programs are most successful when all employees are involved, and management promotes learning, collaboration, and innovation.
Risk management consultants and services
Our risk management consultants can be an extension of your team. Our experts know the rules, regulations, and best practices to help keep you, your employees, your customers, and your properties safe. Risk management consultants can help you develop workplace safety programs, analyze your claims and loss history to reduce or avoid repeat incidents, establish a safety committee, develop training programs, and much more.
