NSC Announces a Safety Task Force to Aid in a Safe Return to Work
The questions of when and how the country will open after this global pandemic are undeniable ones, but there’s no doubt employers will have to operate workplaces differently. The National Safety Council and others are working to help them in that process.
The National Safety Council is working to best help employers in the reopening of the country—in the safes means possible. In partnership with Fortune 500 companies and leaders in worker safety, NSC announced the first safety task force to ensure employee safety now and leading into the post-pandemic world.
Names like NASA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and U.S. Steel are among the organizations sitting on the task force.
The task force—coined SAFER: Safe Actions for Employee Returns—aims to develop guidance for employers as they navigate the changed work environment and determine critical needs. It will:
- Identify complexities with reengaging the workforce by partnering with human resources, legal, labor, health care and workers compensation providers
- Develop general and sector-specific playbooks for America’s businesses, particularly mid-size and small businesses, to help them align worker safety with business objectives
“The manner in which employers bring people back to work will define our national response to the pandemic,” Lorraine M. Martin, president and CEO of NSC, said in an April 23 press release. “For more than a century, NSC has been helping employers put safety at the forefront of all their decisions, and we are once again taking action to continue serving this important role. With SAFER, we are confident we’re bringing the best minds together to ensure Americans have the safest transition back to work so we can truly flatten the curve and enable people to live their fullest lives.”
Safety should always be employers’ first priority, but after the COVID-19 pandemic, safety will take on a whole new meaning in the workplace. SAFER aims to help increase workplace safety with guidance from its partners. The task force’s contributors include “nonprofit organizations, businesses, medical professionals, government agencies and trade associations—all with the intention of sharing their own expertise to develop industry- and risk-specific resources and recommendations for U.S. employers of all sizes.”
With workplace fatalities already on the rise, the complications of the pandemic has only heightened employers’ responsibilities to mitigate risk and drive down deaths and injuries.
For up-to-date information about the NSC response to COVID-19 and the task force’s activities, visit nsc.org/safer or nsc.org/coronavirus.