Risk & Business Magazine General Insurance Services - Fall 2020 | Page 27

SAFETY CULTURE
The Importance Of Building A
Safety Culture
BY: KIM RAMSEY,
SOFTWARE & TRAINING ADVISOR
GENERAL INSURANCE SERVICE
Of course workplace safety
is important to you. But
how important is it to
your employees? If you
don’t know, it may be time
to evaluate the safety culture at your
business and think about what you can
do to improve it.
WHAT IS A SAFETY CULTURE?
A safety culture is the shared beliefs,
practices, and mind-sets that shape
behavior at an organization in a positive
way.
A SAFETY CULTURE
SETS THE STANDARD
FOR OVERALL SAFETY
AT YOUR COMPANY.
For example, if the head chef at your
restaurant carries knives blade up while
walking through the kitchen, that tells
the rest of the kitchen staff that safe knife
handling is not a priority and that they
can carry a knife any way they choose.
This unsafe behavior is perpetuated
by new employees who think this is an
acceptable thing to do.
But if the head chef is diligent about
health and safety in the kitchen (and
always carries knives close to his or her
side with the blade down), that attitude
will influence the rest of the staff and
create a culture of safety.
WHY SHOULD I IMPLEMENT A SAFETY
CULTURE?
According to OSHA, an established safety
culture can reduce your injury and illness
costs by 20 to 40%. When it comes to
the costs associated with safety, consider
these statistics from OSHA:
• Employers pay almost $1 billion
per week for direct workers’
compensation costs alone, which
comes straight out of company
profits.
• Injuries and illnesses increase
workers’ compensation and
retraining costs.
• Lost productivity from injuries and
illnesses costs companies roughly
$63 billion each year.
If you have high workers’ compensation
costs or your premium increases every
year, analyzing the effectiveness of your
company’s safety culture is a good way to
start controlling these costs.
HOW CAN I MOTIVATE MY EMPLOYEES
TO CARE?
You can motivate your employees to
care about safety by tying it directly to
compensation or incentives. Reward
employees who err on the side of safety
over efficiency. But make sure you
understand the difference between
reward and recognition. You don’t want
employees doing something just because
they know they’ll get something tangible
in return.
A strong safety culture with appropriate
recognition and rewards will inspire
employees to look out for one another
and point out unsafe behaviors or
situations. Everyone will feel responsible
for safety and pursue it on a daily basis
by going beyond the “call of duty” to
identify unsafe conditions and behaviors,
and to intervene to correct them.
WHERE DO I START?
Contact me! That’s the first step. I can be
reached at 219-809-2234 or kramsey@
genins.com. Our team can provide
you with the road map you need to get
started and help you along the way, with
a portfolio of hand-picked resources to
share with your employees. +
Kim Ramsey graduated from Purdue University
Northwest, earning a bachelor’s degree in
Organizational Leadership & Supervision and
minoring in Human Resource Management. Prior
to joining GIS, Kim spent 18 years in the community
as a Personal Banker and Trust Officer and gained
experience in the nonprofit sector in Economic
Development. Kim enjoys volunteering and serving
the community. She is a past board member for La
Porte County Meals on Wheels, Youth Service Bureau,
IU Health La Porte Hospital Foundation, and the
past chairperson for the Tour De La Porte event. She
lives in New Buffalo with her family, and in her free
time, she enjoys hiking, photography, traveling, and
spending time with family and friends.
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