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 everyone in the company.
Training and equipment are not the only factors that make a workplace considered safe. 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.
Integrating this OHS culture in employees’ behaviors and values is the ideal way to integrate it into the workplace.
Why an OHS culture?
In addition to reducing sometimes drastic accidents, an OHS culture brings many advantages, such as:
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.
2. Good management indicator
- A company where OHS is taken care of by the employees is usually a well-managed company.
3. Reduction of operational costs
- Each accident affects productivity and has financial repercussions on all activities.
DON’T FORGET THAT IT IS MANDATORY BY LAW!
The Quebec Act Respecting Occupational Health and Safety clearly states, in Section 51, the employer’s obligations. Paragraph five 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 can we implement this OHS culture? Simple: take the first steps, set an example, and become a reference. It is always easier for people to adopt a new behavior when they have already observed it.
Do not hesitate to seek the advice of professionals who can guide you and support you throughout the process.
Once this prevention shift has been made, it is important to remain on course! It may be all too easy to implement new measures and assume that they will be successful.
To successfully integrate this culture, monitoring practices are essential. 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 process for integrating this type of culture may take some time. Once employees begin being more transparent and involved with OHS and the prevention mind-set becomes second nature, it is safe to assume that the culture has successfully been implemented. However, it is important to stay consistent and always work towards keeping this culture within the workplace.
