Culture of Safety Awareness: Why Safety Programs Fail Paper Example

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 4000 workers die on the job each year. Commitments to workplace safety vary in different companies. Organizations have safety programs in place to prevent incidents. However, some of these safety programs often fail because of a number of reasons. First, they fail because of labeling and viewing safety efforts as programs. A program is an event that occurs once in a while. When the company views safety efforts as programs, they will definitely fail. They have to view the efforts as a process that continues to evolve. Second, a safety program might fail because of the failure to put in place better practices, policies, and procedures. Compliance with OSHA standards is critical in ensuring for companies to maintain safe work environments. The third reason safety programs fail is because of viewing safety professionals as managers and not leaders. Once the leader mentality sets in, competency in the safety efforts will be experienced throughout the entire process. For instance, in the 2008 Georgia sugar refinery explosion, if the above measures were taken, workers in the factory would not be hurt.

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The following are the three elements, which are critical to an effective health and safety program:

• Worksite Analysis - effective management would analyze the workplace to prevent harmful occurrences. The analysis involves a thorough examination of existing hazards as well as the conditions and operations where change might occur. Some of the actions during the analysis include baseline surveys, analysis of job hazards as well as analysis of planned and new processes, materials, and equipment. This will help to make decisions on the way to deal with the hazards and how to protect the workers.
• Employee Involvement and Management Commitment - these two are complementary. As management commitment provides the required driving force for organizing activities within the organization, employee involvement provides the means that workers use to express their commitment to safety and health programs.
• Safety and Health Training - employees need to know what to do in emergency situations. Most importantly, they will need to be aware of why they have to do it. When workers become conversant with the Safety and Health precautions, they would manage to live in a safe environment.

Conclusion

I would describe the culture of safety awareness in my work organization as positive. The approach is an updated one, which leaves no gaps. Our upper management commitment to workplace safety is outstanding. Not to mention, as workers, we have been trained in safety measures. Every department at the workplace assists the management in building a healthy safety culture. We are all responsible for understanding what it will take to build a safety culture, which includes current hazards, areas for improvement, and necessary employee training for improved safety practice. We rely strongly on OSHA guidelines to help us in the path of building a strong safety culture in the organization. Furthermore, we received proper training, which enabled us to become more aware of the workplace hazards and the processes to overcome them. However, one thing/action that might improve it would be enforcing accountability. It would improve it because each individual would be held accountable for his or her actions. Accountability would be necessary because, through that, workers would try their best to maintain the safety culture when at work.