Today we're going to take you on an important journey. It's called out to develop and implement an effective safety program. Now this program is unique because it would be impossible to list all the ingredients, techniques, and procedures necessary to develop an effective safety program. We do know one thing: accidents and injuries in the workplace are preventable. Regardless of what industry you're now in safety makes sense. Safety doesn't slow you down. It actually makes your job easier, and saves time. We're going to discuss a lot of things in this program. Including many of the techniques you may now be using. If you'll just follow the basic guidelines outlined in this program you'll be well on your way to improving safety in your organization. Now nothing in this program should be used to circumvent your company's policies and procedures because your company is responsible for the safety of all its employees. All we're trying to do is provide a blueprint to help you improve or begin development of an effective safety program. The information in this program can help you reduce accidents and injuries by 50% to 75%. now all of this information is based upon years of experience. Everybody knows that safety is a moral and legal responsibility, but it also makes good business sense because accidents and injuries cost money. Now we're going to discuss things you can do to improve safety and turn safety into a profit center. That's not the only motivation, but everyone is interested in saving money, and accidents and injuries can cost an arm and a leg.

The very first thing on the list is top management involvement. You've heard it before, and your question is, "How do I really get Top Management support?" That's probably the most elusive part of any safety program. Absolutely, Top Management wants safety. They have directed that you put the safety program together. They have directed that the supervisors comply with the safety program so how can you say Top Management isn't involved? Now for some of you you surely have top management support for others it's the most difficult part of the puzzle. How do you really get them involved in safety? Talk dollars and cents. Total the money it has cost in workers compensation, medical, time off work, supervisor's and manager's time to investigation the accident, administrative time used to type or handle the report, property damage costs, and all other costs associated with the accident. When you figure in the cost of hiring other employees to replace the injured, or the time lost by not having the injured employee at work you might say you have a tool in which to gain some attention. Next, you need to explain to top management the legal ramifications of an effective safety program. Now we're talking about personal fines, or jail time for not having and implementing an effective safety program. Now if these two things don't get top management's attention you can forget about safety, just go ahead and do the best you can. The reason top management must be involved is the support for the program. Not only budget, but things like motivation. If top management supports something you can be assured that all other management will support it. The hand that feeds you can be a powerfully motivating tool. Now we'll assume that top management is supportive of safety because the vast majority is very supportive. Those injury costs can devastate any type of organization. So let's just say you do have management support.

Next you need a safety manual. Now you probably already have one written, top management has written and committed to the safety policy, and you have specific policies and procedures outlining each manager's safety responsibilities and accountability. You also spell out each employee's responsibility for working and acting safely. You really need this particular statement. Safety is a condition of employment. It needs to be spelled out to both management and employees. This manual should be detailed enough to serve as a reference manual for supervisors. They're not going to memorize a big, thick, stack of information, but when a question arises they can refer to the manual for answers. Supervisors and managers must be provided training for the information contained in this manual. Supervisors and managers must be provided training in the information contained in this manual. Just issuing the manual doesn't mean it's going to be read and understood. So you need to train management and supervision in what is contained in the safety manual. Next you must absolutely, positively, train employees in the information contained...