Uncertain Times? Double Down on Safety Training!
It’s an understatement to say there’s uncertainty in the world today, especially in the safety world. The proposed cuts, closings, and firings at OSHA have everyone scratching their heads. Tariffs may cause sales to slip, supply chains to sputter, and manufacturers to lay off. No one knows how this is all going to shake out.
Here’s one thing you know for sure: Workers’ Compensation insurance premiums and rebates will still be directly tied to the number of incidents at your facility. More incidents mean higher premiums and lower rebates. And those can add up to millions of dollars that will affect your organization’s bottom line.
What can you do?
Focus on Financial Safety Training for Supervisors
The worry I’m hearing is that supervisors will become lax because they believe there’s less threat of OSHA audits and fines. So, they’ll let bad safety behaviors slide a bit. And a bit more. And even more until serious injuries start to occur.
If your supervisors don’t understand how Workers’ Compensation premiums and rebates work, you need to train them in these concepts right away! Their frontline vigilance, feedback, and coaching are critical to maintaining safety excellence.
Here are four tips to train your supervisors:
Show how premiums and rebates have affected your company’s bottom line for the last three to five years. Your CFO will likely be happy to provide this data. Better yet, invite them to conduct the training with you!
Tie those premiums and rebates to your company’s safety numbers.
Show how specific safety programs, including training, delivered those safety numbers.
Play what-if games and show how changes in safety numbers impact premiums, rebates, the bottom line, and any bonuses. When people see how small changes add up to big dollars and affect the money in their own pockets, that creates emotional connection which is key for behavior changes.
Build, and Keep, a Safety Culture
At the March Oregon Governor’s Occupational Safety & Health (GOSH) Conference, I had the privilege of introducing a great session titled “Are We Managing SAFETY or Managing SAFELY?” by Joe Estey, Certified Human Performance Practitioner with Lucas Engineering and Management Services in Lenoir City, Tennessee.
In his session, Joe talked about how safety climates influence safety cultures. He said leadership is critical in creating and sustaining safety cultures that continue to perform through variations in safety climates.
Joe also said that if your company’s safety behaviors change because OSHA’s been weakened, then people are managing SAFETY, not managing SAFELY. They’re focusing on compliance, not excellence.
While strong safety cultures are built on people intrinsically wanting to keep themselves and their co-workers safe and healthy, don’t be afraid to bring money into your training sessions. Use every lever at your disposal to influence people’s behaviors.
After Layoffs, Keep People Safe, Healthy, and Productive
Layoffs stretch staffing tight. Some may be extra tired from working mandatory overtime. Remaining employees are distracted, worrying if they’ll get the ax next.
This is an environment ripe for injuries.
In addition to direct costs, injuries make workforce shortages worse when remaining people go out on disability. Your company needs full, healthy crews and the key to that is excellent safety training. If you feel pressure to reduce safety training while your company is struggling, resist!
Double Down on Effective Safety Training: It’s the Most Cost-Efficient Way to Prevent Accidents and Incidents
Safety training works, but more than ever now, training has to be effective. Another Powerpoint lecture’s not gonna cut it when people are worried and distracted. Trust me, there are much better ways to train people, methods that will minimize their time away from the job and maximize learning, retention, and safe behaviors.
My Maverick Train-the-Safety-Trainer Program teaches you how to make every minute of your training time count towards measurable cost savings. I know it’s a big ask during these uncertain times to request money for professional development, but it could be the best request you ever make. The cost savings alone from preventing higher Workers’ Compensation premiums, lower rebates, and lost time accidents will pay for it a hundred times over.
If you’d like help figuring out how to present this to your manager, email or give me a call at 971.808.9814.