Steps to Create a Workplace Safety Campaign

A workplace safety campaign can contribute to an increase in health and safety.

• By Ronie Salazar
• Aug 08, 2022

Introduction

A safety campaign is a way for organizations to share what they’re doing to promote workplace safety and encourage employees to take ownership of the risks present in their day-to-day lives. Creating a successful workplace safety campaign requires planning, collaboration with employees and stakeholders and continuous engagement with employees throughout the year. 

Evaluate your Workplace

In order to create a successful workplace safety campaign, you will first have to evaluate your workplace. You need to look at each area and not only identify any risks that exist, but also determine how serious they are.

The following are some questions that you should ask yourself when looking at the dangers in your workplace:

• What types of hazards do we have?
• How many employees work here?
• What kind of training do our employees receive?
• Do we have an emergency plan in place for when an incident occurs?

Once you've answered these questions, it's time to take a look at the risks to your employees:

• Are there any pregnant women working here? If so, what precautions does this pose for them (e.g., lifting heavy objects)?
• Are there any people with disabilities working here who could be negatively impacted by certain hazards (e.g., chemicals or machinery)?
• What is their medical history with regards to allergies or other health conditions? Do they take medication regularly—in which case they may be affected by certain substances differently than others would be affected if exposed suddenly without prior warning...

Analyze and Prioritize Workplace Hazards

Once you've completed your risk assessment, it's time to prioritize and analyze the hazards in your workplace. If you don't have a full list yet, this is an excellent opportunity to complete one! Then, list each hazard from most dangerous to least dangerous. Prioritize any hazards that are likely to cause injury (or worse) or fatality first. The following table shows how we prioritized our own work environment:

• Hazards with the greatest potential for serious injury or fatality (e.g., machinery malfunctioning)
• Hazards with the largest number of employees exposed (e.g., forklift drivers)

Educate Employees on Accidents and Injuries

An accident is any event involving a workplace hazard that causes damage to property or the risk of serious harm to people, such as:

• Accidental exposure to hazardous chemicals.
• Accidental release of toxic gases from storage tanks.
• Accidents involving machinery, tools, and equipment (including forklifts).

Injuries can be caused by:

• Slips, trips and falls on floors/walkways with slippery surfaces (e.g., wet floors in washrooms).
• Falls from height when stepping off boxes/pallets etc., climbing ladders/steps up onto platforms/trucks, etc., working at heights without guardrails or fall protection systems in place (e.g., leaning out windows while cleaning them).

Record All Accidents and Injuries

• Record the date, time and location of the accident.
• Record the type of accident. Examples are falling from a height, slipping/falling on the same level (not involving machinery), tripping or stumbling over an object on the floor, cutting by a sharp object, etc.
• Record the type of injury (example: fracture, strain/sprain).
• Record severity of the injury–whether it is minor (first aid treatment only) or major (hospitalization required).
• If there are multiple injuries, record each one separately while indicating that they occurred at the same time in one incident, rather than recording two separate incidents as different types of accidents with different causes, which would result in two separate records for each individual leg breakage. This simple sense procedure prevents double counting, which would otherwise make it impossible for management to comprehend how many people were hurt during a single incident.

Start a Mentorship Program

Mentorship is a great way for employees to understand workplace safety in an informal setting. Your employees can receive mentorship from anyone in your organization, including managers, coworkers, and even supervisors.

Mentors should be trained on how to mentor effectively so that they can teach their charges about workplace safety practices.

Address Security and Privacy Concerns

When employees are concerned about reporting accidents, injuries and hazards, it is important to address those concerns. Your workplace safety campaign should include information about the importance of reporting accidents and injuries as well as assurances that their names will not be released publicly if they do so. Employees may also fear reprisal from management over such reports. If so, your workplace safety campaign should include a clear policy on retaliation, including an assurance that no disciplinary action will be taken against anyone who reports an accident or injury in good faith.

To ensure privacy when employees report accidents or injuries, explain why we collect personal information during an investigation and what steps we take to protect this data from unauthorized disclosure or use. Finally, reassure them that any medical records connected with an investigation will be kept confidential unless otherwise required by law or regulation (e.g., workers' compensation).

Convene a Team to Create the Campaign

Identify the team members. The first step in creating a workplace safety campaign is to identify people who will work on the project. These can be representatives from different departments, such as marketing and HR, or they can include individuals with specific expertise that's needed for this type of project (e.g., an attorney).

Choose a leader. The next step is choosing someone to lead the group and make sure that everything gets done according to plan—this person will also facilitate any meetings held during the campaign process, as well as help determine which steps should be prioritized over others depending on their resources available at that time.

Set up an official meeting date and location where everyone can gather together with their laptops open so we can all get started right away! It's important not only because we have limited time until deadline day but also because if any changes need to be made later on down-line then having them here now would save us lots of hassle later down-line too!

Select the Campaign Message

The first step to creating a successful workplace safety campaign is to select the campaign message and takeaway. The message should be clear, concise and compelling. It should communicate what you are trying to achieve with your campaign and why it’s important for employees. The takeaway should be simple enough so that everyone can remember it but detailed enough so that they understand what they need to do differently in their daily lives at work.

A good example of this would be “Don't let the water boil over on the stove; always turn off the heat when cooking pasta or rice” which could translate into “Turn off the heat before adding pasta or rice; cover pot once cooking begins".

Make Sure the Campaign Lasts All Year Round

The campaign should be ongoing and not just focused on a specific season. As a matter of fact, the safety tips you share with your employees could help keep them safe all year long.

Safety is a continuous process that needs to be addressed year-round. It encompasses more than just what happens in your workplace; it also includes every aspect of an employee's life outside of work as well as their equipment and environment. You need to make sure that everyone understands this because this will keep them from taking shortcuts when it comes to safety measures, which is where accidents can happen most often.

When you create an effective workplace safety campaign, it will not only increase productivity but also reduce costs associated with injuries or lost time due to illness caused by stress-related issues like depression or heart disease—it’s a win-win for everyone involved!

Create a Video Workplace Safety Campaign

If your workplace is a large one, then you may want to consider creating a Youtube video workplace safety campaign. Video campaigns are becoming more popular and effective than ever before because they can be used as an educational tool for employees of all levels and ages. This makes them ideal for use in the workplace setting where there are often large numbers of workers who need to learn new safety techniques or reinforce old ones on a regular basis. In addition, videos can be used as part of an internal training program for managers or supervisors who need to familiarize themselves with the latest guidelines and procedures surrounding OSHA regulations and other important details related to worker protection against accidents or injuries at work sites around America.

Workplace Safety Comes from Everyone, from Employees at All Levels Who Take Ownership of the Risks Present in Their Workplace

Your employees are in the best position to identify risks and come up with solutions. Employee involvement should be a key element of your workplace safety campaign.

• Employees should be involved in identifying risks.
• Employees should be involved in developing solutions for those risks.
• Employees should be involved with implementing their own solutions and making sure that they work as planned.
• Employees should be responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of their own solutions so that any problems can be identified and fixed before they get out of hand or cause harm to anyone else on the job site (including yourself).

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a way to improve your workplace safety, this list is the place to start. Implementing these steps can help you reduce accidents and injuries in your workplace, and it will also increase employee morale. By involving your workers in creating their own safety plans, you’ll be able to foster a more engaged workforce who takes pride in their role as an integral part of the team.