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Safety Success – You Have To Have Buy In

You have spent months and months getting your safety system implemented; you have trained all of your personnel and  spent a small fortune having all of your manuals printed and bound – but it is still not working.

Sadly this dilemma happens quite often when something new is implemented, especially safety programs. So what went wrong ? Usually it is a buy-in issue. Without active involvement from your key players your system will never get off the ground.

Who are the key players? The most obvious is your Senior Management Team who without their buy-in a Safety System is just something they have to have not something they care about.

The next most obvious is your employees, sometimes being a key player has nothing to do with seniority or position how do you find out who your key players are amongst employees – those who speak the loudest and the most often are usually the key, I like to call them leaders amongst peers because even though they may not be correct in what they are saying they are listened to because they have an opinion and are willing to share it.

Perhaps the key players most often forgotten are the Front Line Supervisors – they are expected to tow the line set by management because they are part of the team however their focus is usually squarely on production and we often overlook their actions toward the program. They may be nodding at the correct times during the meetings, they may be agreeing with everything you ask of them but as soon as they get out onto the floor their focus turns back to the priority of Production.

This is not the case with all front-line people but the majority do not have as much involvement or time invested on the setup stages. Implementing a new safety system will mean a lot more work for your front line people so if you can’t get them involved AND excited your safety program will always struggle.

About the Author

Joanne Wallace is our resident "Safety Guru". Joanne has provided advice on safety management for the past 10 years and written hundreds of articles on safety issues and tips. Joanne has experience in many industries ranging from manufacturing, food processing, timber milling, retail, office and wholesaling providing her with knowledge and experience managing risk and injuries in these industries.

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