My Role

I’m Mark – one of my key roles within the Cardinus health and safety consultancy team is working on strategic interventions to improve the health and safety performance of the client’s organisation. I am involved in influencing and making an impact on health and safety compliance within organisations.

My Approach

My approach is generally two-fold.

• How can I improve the health and safety management systems within the organisation and how can I influence compliance behaviour?

Initially, I need to find out about the safety culture by looking at attitudes to health and safety at all levels and establishing some benchmarks.

How? – This can be achieved by talking to key stakeholders within the organisation to gauge their perception of the quality of health and safety performance.

• My next objective is to get a better measure of performance by carrying out an audit review of the health and safety management system.

In organisations large and small, it is often difficult to know exactly how well you are managing health and safety and to what extent you are merely compliant or reflecting industry best practice.

What Is a Health and Safety Audit?

• A health and safety audit is an essential tool helping you understand what is going right, and what is not.
• It is a way of periodically measuring how effectively an organisation and its departments are complying with their health and safety duties.
• The process allows comparisons to be made between areas that are performing well regarding health and safety management and those that are not.

These points enable best practice to be spread throughout an organisation.

Why Carry Out a Health and Safety Audit?

• The audit review provides an opportunity to consider both the organisation’s strengths and areas for improvement.

From this point it’s a good idea to establish a Prioritised Risk Register from which an agreed safety programme can be developed.

Developing a Positive Safety Culture

Leading companies nurture a comprehensive safety culture throughout their organisations; this includes managers of the business being in control of the fundamental safety factors. These include but are not limited to:

• Implementing any necessary RISK assessments, informing decisions, planning required training courses, continuous observation of workplace behaviour (in order to prevent any accidents), and driving these factors into effect.

From an employee’s view point, the company safety culture is the attitude, perception and values that staff share in relation to safety in the workplace.

Steps for Developing a Positive Safety Culture:

• Commitment – it’s proven that companies with a strong safety culture in place have a commitment to safety both from a company leadership side and from the employee’s point of view.
• Communication – the ideal way to create a positive safety culture is to hold weekly or monthly safety talks. Make safety policies available both online and on paper for workers.
• Provide Training – allowing employees to become professionals in the world of health and safety is a great way to improve your company safety culture, do this via training – so that your team are aware of hazards and the effects these hazards can have on workplace safety.
• Develop a Reporting Process – it’s a good idea to reward employees that notice and report any workplace hazards or incidents. It’s important that staff feel comfortable through the reporting process – in order to grow a optimistic safety culture.

Following these points will lead to positive employee attitudes toward safety and a healthier work-place safety culture.

Please contact our friendly team if you’d like to discuss your work-place health and safety options – email us at [email protected] or complete the online contact form.