Without a strong culture of safety in place at your organization, unsafe conditions can go uncorrected or unnoticed. Volunteers and members may not feel comfortable raising safety-related concerns and the risk of serious injuries may increase.
To make your Post safer, it is important to take a proactive approach before incidents occur.
With the right plan in place, you can help prevent injuries, illnesses and deaths at your organization, as well as the suffering and financial hardship these events can cause for members and their families.
According to OSHA, safety and health programs are helpful in a multitude of ways and can:
- Prevent injuries and illnesses
- Improve compliance with laws and regulations
- Reduce liability costs
- Engage members
- Enhance social responsibility goals
- Increase productivity and enhance overall organizational operations
Creating a Culture of Safety
OSHA has specific plans and tips your organization can follow to improve safety. To begin your program, follow these 10 tips:
- Set safety and health as a top priority. Always set safety and health as the top priority of your Post. Assure members and volunteers that you will work to find and fix any hazards that could injure them or make them sick.
- Lead by example. Leadership should practice safe behaviors and make safety part of regular conversations with members.
- Implement a reporting system. Develop and communicate a simple procedure for members to report any injuries, illnesses, incidents (including close calls), hazards, or safety and health concerns. Include an option for reporting hazards or concerns anonymously.
- Provide training. Train members to identify and control hazards specific to your activities and procedures.
- Conduct inspections. Inspect the Post with members and ask them to identify any activity, equipment, or procedure that concerns them.
- Collect hazard control ideas. Ask members and volunteers for ideas on organizational improvements and follow up on their suggestions.
- Implement hazard controls. Assign members the task of choosing, implementing and evaluating the solutions they come up with.
- Address emergencies. Identify foreseeable emergency scenarios and develop instructions on what to do in each case. Meet to discuss these procedures and post them in a visible location in the organization.
- Seek input on changes. Before making significant changes, consult with members to identify potential safety or health issues.
- Make improvements. Set aside a regular time to discuss safety and health issues, with the goal of identifying ways to improve the program.
Protecting your Post
The right safety program will help reduce the amount of injuries and illnesses at your organization.
Lockton Affinity also offers a library of risk management resources to help you improve the safety of your operations and activities. Plus, with our insurance program, you can protect your Post from the costs associated with property damage, third party injury, volunteer accidents and much more.
Get started with coverage for your Post today.
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