This year, August 10-16 is OSHA’s designated Safe & Sound week. It is a week that spotlights safety and health resources, offers engaging challenges, and encourages development of safety and health programs. OSHA has a website dedicated to this week of awareness and growth opportunity: https://www.osha.gov/safeandsound
The website contains fun and informative challenges that involve participation of the company, supervisors, and workers to create a more positive and proactive culture of health and safety. The OSHA Safe & Sound week website includes several more topics, including:
- DEVELOP YOUR PROGRAM
- SAFE & SOUND WEEK
- MEET OUR SUPPORTERS; and
- CONTACT US.
Management Leadership
When you go to the website, you will see several tabs. Under the HOME tab, there are free resources to develop your own program, and a link to “Management Leadership”. Under Management Leadership, there are several challenges management can enroll in and implement at work, including the “Safety Wall of Fame Challenge”. In that challenge, a template is attached to use to recognize safe workers and show that your company values them and prioritizes health and safety.
Management Challenges
- Safety Wall of Fame – Provides templates to show safe employee recognition;
- Take 3 in 30 – helps set a goal of 3 actions in 30 days;
- Lead with Safety Challenge – encourages management to be first in recognizing safety issues;
- Champion Safety – supplies a ready-made safety certificate template for safe employees;
- Hazard Huddle – shows how to design a team safety meeting; and
- Crisis Communication – examines how workers communicate under the pressure of an emergency.
Under this tab, there are also Management Leadership Worksheets (PDFs) titled “Building Your Case” and “Writing Your Policy”, as well as a management safety pledge. These are all great resources to get started or to improve your current safety and health plan.
Worker Participation
Under the S + S HOME tab, there is a “Worker Participation” tab. Under that, there are challenges workers, led by management, can participate in. One of these is the “Speak up for Safety Challenge” where workers and management review safety reports together and discuss hazards, helping identify areas of priority and address concerns. This is a proactive approach to safety and creates a culture of communication between employees and management.
Worker Challenges:
- Speak Up for Safety – use this platform to review safety reports with workers and hear feedback;
- Safety Is Our Right –show workers you support their right to a safe and health workplace;
- Response Ready Workplace – test or improve your Emergency Action Plan; and
- Safety Shout-out – a way to acknowledge safe workers with recognition and encourage teamwork.
Under this tab, there are also Worker Participation Worksheets titled “Worker Participation in Your Policy Worksheet,” “Worker Participation Worksheet – Workers’ Rights,” as well as a “Safety Climate Assessment Tool” and a “Support One Another Toolkit.”
Adopting the best practices contained in these worksheets will help create a culture of open communication about health and safety, because workers should feel they are allowed to say something if they have a concern, and it is their right to do so. There are many other resources on worker participation as well. You can create a “Safety Notebook” with plastic pages for the break room or front office with these colorful handouts. Many of the pages are also available in Spanish.
Find & Fix Hazards
The last tab under the S + S HOME tab is “Find and Fix Hazards.” Exploring techniques here will help your company develop processes to identify, control, and fix hazards. There are several challenges under this section, and one that allows workers to see things from a different perspective is the “Safety Shuffle.” This allows workers to switch jobs to spot hazards that someone accustomed to that job might miss. This might be useful in developing training manuals for a certain job, and to gather intel from several workers that would help with implementing hazards controls.
Find & Fix Hazards Challenges
- Check on Safety – demonstrates a core strategy to find and fix hazards;
- Eyes on Safety – uses safety walkarounds to improve safety;
- Halt a Hazard – designates a regular time to find a list ongoing hazards;
- Safety Shuffle – offers a fresh perspective using a job swap; and
- Find 4 – helps plan a better evacuation drill.
Also on this tab are Hazard Identification worksheets (PDF) titled “Safety in 5 Steps: Job Hazard Analysis” and “Hazard Identification Worksheet: Engaging Workers,” as well as “Hazard Identification Sheet – Hazard Information” and an “Employer Heat Checklist.”
Under this tab, there are also Hazard Identification Worksheets (PDFs) titled “Be Safe + Sound at Work: Find and Fix” and “Micro-Learning: Employee Participation in Hazard Identification”, as well as a “That Was No Accident! Using Your OSHA 300 Log to Improve Safety and Health” and “Walk-Arounds for Safety Officers,” as well as a couple others.
Lastly, OSHA provides a virtual challenge coin for those who complete challenges, but a real challenge coin with your company’s name and logo would be a real way for those who have completed challenges to connect and show off their coin at work when “challenged.” With challenge coins, you always carry your coin with you as a constant reminder of your company’s safety goals and your part as a team member.
STAYING SAFE AND SOUND…IS A BENEFICIAL SITUATION FOR EVERYONE!!
Download flyer: SMOTW_1332_Safe_+_Sound_Week Download Spanish flyer: SMOTW_1332_Safe_+_Sound_Week_esp
