5 ways to engage staff in health and safety compliance

A photo by Alejandro Escamilla. unsplash.com/photos/BbQLHCpVUqA

An engaged workforce is a safer workforce. Promoting a culture where employees are actively encouraged to participate in health and safety motivates individuals to take better care of themselves, their surroundings and their colleagues. You’ll receive more information about incidents and near misses, increase observation about the condition of your premises and be notified in advance of potential hazards and threats.

With these 5 tips from NordSafety, you’ll have a more alert and proactive team, always on hand to notice when things are amiss.

1. Lead by example

Staff are more likely to participate in your vision if they know you truly believe in it. When management and core members in each department practise what is being preached, and the company proves its committed to EHSQ, employees feel more inspired to take an active part in making things happen.

2. Give the correct training

In order for employees to understand what is of expected of them, and how they can best put this into action, they need to be given the correct training. Provide guidelines, courses, team briefings, demonstrations and instruction as often as is necessary to ensure that your team isn’t lacking in the appropriate knowledge they need to stay safe.

3. Make it easy to engage

Complicated and difficult processes will act as a deterrent to involvement. When your staff are already busy and focused on their core roles, avoid adding to their workload by keeping it as simple and as quick as possible to share their health and safety observations and issues.

4. Gain ground level input

Having informal discussions and keeping the lines of communication open with your staff are important in making sure they feel that their opinions on health and safety are valued and that their concerns will be listened to. Ascribing particular roles, issuing questionnaires or forming committees can help to promote a sense of responsibility and trust, as well as proving useful in gathering new perspectives and insights.

5. Provide the right resources

Whether it’s manuals, equipment, or items for work station good practice, having the right tools at their disposal will encourage staff to be more safety conscious. When maintenance issues are raised, promptly acting to resolve the problem and keeping the premises in the correct working order will allow workers to feel more positive about looking after and monitoring their surroundings.

Get your staff on side with NordSafety.

With features such as public reporting, NordSafety creates a more engaged workforce, facilitating the reporting of incidents and increases safety awareness throughout your facility. To see for yourself how NordSafety is leading the way in mobile EHSQ innovation, get started with a guided product demo, or to find out more about ways our app could make your team more EHSQ aware, simply contact our team.