Maurice Vierow - Consulting Services - Stanford Who's Who Certified Workplace safety refers to the working environment at a company

and encompasses all factors that impact the safety, health, and well-being of employees. This ca n include environmental hazards, unsafe working conditions or processes, drug an d alcohol abuse, and workplace violence. Workplace safety is monitored at the na tional level by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA h as three stated goals that serve as the cornerstones of its policies and regulat ions: 1) Improve the safety and health for all workers, as evidenced by fewer ha zards, reduced exposures, and fewer injuries, illnesses, and fatalities; 2) Chan ge workplace culture to increase employer and worker awareness of, commitment to , and involvement in safety and health; 3) Secure public confidence through exce llence in the development and delivery of OSHA's programs and services. The fede ral guidelines imposed by this agency are complemented by state regulations that are often tougher than those proposed by OSHA. NATIONAL WORKPLACE INJURY AND ILLNESS DATA Every year the Department of Labor, through its Bureau of Labor Statistics, publ ishes the workplace injury and illness data that it gathers and compiles. In 200 4, 5,764 people lost their lives while on the job in the United States. These fa talities were caused, primarily, to traffic-related incidents (45 percent), foll owed by assaults and violent acts (18 percent), falls (15 percent), contact with objects and equipment (14 percent), and finally, exposure to harmful substances . The nonfatal injuries and illnesses reported in 2004, serious enough to require time-away from work, numbered 1.27 million, a rate of injury equivalent to 141.3 per 100,000 full-time workers. These data include all work-related injuries and illnesses that resulted in time-away from work beyond the day on which the inju ry occurred. The median number of days away from work per incident in 2004 was 7 days. By category of injury, the national data break down as follows: Sprains a nd strains (41.7 percent), bruises and contusions (9.1 percent), cuts and lacera tions (7.8 percent), fractures (7.5 percent), heat burns and carpal tunnel syndr ome (1.5 percent each), and other injuries and illnesses make up the remaining 5 .8 percent of workplace injuries. The goods-producing industries have a higher r ate of on-the-job injury than do the service industries with one exception. Busi nesses in the transportation sector are part of the service industry but they ha ve a very high rate of on-the-job injuries. IMPROVING WORKPLACE SAFETY AT A SMALL BUSINESS Most small business owners take steps to try and assure that their place of work is a safe one because it is the right thing to do. Beyond being the right thing to do, smaller companies usually recognize that the benefits to be gained by a safe work environment are many. Attention to safety issues can not only help bus inesses avoid legal penalties, but also improves employee morale, productivity, and retention. Moreover, effective workplace safety programs often have a tremen dous impact on a company's bottom-line financial performance. In addition to the hidden benefits in retention and productivity that go hand-in-hand with such pr ograms, businesses armed with solid workplace safety policies and records realiz e enormous benefits in the realm of insurance. An employer's workers' compensati on premium is based on several factors. These include payroll, a classification of employees by occupational type, and the company's accident history. No factor has more control over insurance premiums or is less understood by policy holder s than the experience modification or 'mod.' The mod is an indicator of how an i ndividual operation's accident rate compares to other businesses within its indu stry. Three consecutive years of actual workers' compensation claims provide the statistical basis for an employer's mod. Under this system, companies that are deemed to have a higher accident rate (as determined by workers' compensation cl

aims over a three-year period) than the industry average pay higher premiums. Co nversely, companies that boast a claim rate lower than the industry average will benefit by paying less expensive premiums. Workplace safety programs can take many forms and cover many potential areas of concern. The sorts of actions taken by companies to maximize the safety of the w ork environment that they create are varied and include: Providing for personal safety equipment Installing equipment controls Creating and disseminating operational manuals Establishing and enforcing hazardous materials handling policies Adopting a drug and alcohol testing program Offering employee counseling services Implementing safety training programs. Following are several avenues that small firms can pursue when implementing or u pdating a workplace safety program. Safety Managers and Committees One method that many firms have had success with is to appoint one person in the organization as the safety coordinator. The ideal candidate has a background in safety, but if no one fits that profile, then choose the candidate who best rel ates to workers and management, has strong communication skills, and has an inte rest in and commitment to safety. A common title for this person is "safety mana ger." For the safety manager to do his or her job, he or she must have direct access t o the top manager in the company. Without management buy-in, safety initiatives will not last long. The manager must also have access to every department and wo rk area, and must be able to question people freely for the purpose of gathering information. Regular status reports should be prepared that update management o n current safety initiatives and identify areas that still need improvement. Ide ally, the safety manager's role will remain an advisory one: responsibility for implementing the manager's suggestions should fall to upper management and the i ndividuals or teams that are singled out by the safety manager. The safety's man ager's mandate is to facilitate change, not implement it. Many analysts believe that businesses should make certain that safety managers a re adequately educated on workplace safety issues as well. Business owners are t hus often encouraged to send managers to training and education seminars or clas ses as part of an overall policy of ongoing education. Additionally, management should encourage the manager to seek out safety professionals at other companies to help him or her build a network of contacts and information. Upper managemen t is also responsible for ensuring that safety performance is made a part of eve ry employee's job responsibility and performance reviews. Only when every employ ee is held accountable for safety will it become a part of a company's culture. The best starting point for a new safety manager is often to review company reco rds of past safety problems. By drawing up a list of areas that are known proble ms, the manager can identify the best place to begin implementation of new safet y measures. Of course, it is also important that the manager immediately follow up on any disquieting patterns or dangerous situations that are discovered and i mplement action steps to correct the problems. Unfortunately, in some instances safety managers will find that workplace safety reports are scant or nonexistent . In such instances, the manager should start from ground zero and establish a f ormal accident/safety reporting system to gather data. Documentation and record keeping serve two additional purposes they provide written evidence that the new safety program is providing positive results and they can

be used to protect the firm in the event that a lawsuit is filed or safety inqui ry launched. Documentation of employee training sessions is especially important , including the topics covered, the date and time at which the sessions were hel d, and any test scores earned by employees at the sessions. Consultants cite tes ting as a potentially valuable way of determining employee retention of safety i nformation. Workplace Safety - http://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/workplace-safety.html