The need for a proper safety and

health program
 SAFETY AND HEALTH PROGRAMS
• The need for health and safety programs in
the workplace has been an area of
controversy for some time.
• Many companies feel that written safety and
health programs are just more paperwork.
• But over a period of years, data and
information have been intensifying in support
of the need to develop and implement written
safety and health programs.
• There are some critical factors that are
essential to manage work and safety and need
proper attention by the company.
• The written safety and health program is of
primary importance in addressing these
critical factors.
 Effectiveness of Safety and health
program
Facts Statement Findings
1 Do not have separate budget for safety 43% more accidents
2 No training for new hires 52% more accidents
3 No outside sources for safety training 59% more accidents
4 No specific training for supervisors 62% more accidents
5 Do not conduct safety inspections 40% more accidents
6 No written safety program compared with > 99 % accidents
companies that have written
programs
7 No employee safety committees 74% more accidents
8 No membership in professional safety 64% more accidents
organizations
9 No established system to recognize safety 81% more accidents
accomplishments
 REASONS FOR A COMPREHENSIVE
SAFETY PROGRAM
• The three major considerations involved in the
development of a safety program are as
follows:
1. Humanitarian
2. Legal obligation
3. Economic
 1. Humanitarian
• Safe operation of workplaces is a moral
obligation imposed by modern society.
• This obligation includes consideration for loss
of life, human pain and suffering, family
suffering, and hardships.
 2. Legal Obligation
• Federal and state governments have laws
charging the employer with the responsibility
for safe working conditions and adequate
supervision of work practices.
• Employers are also responsible for paying the
costs incurred for injuries suffered by their
employees during their work activities.
 3. Economics
• Prevention costs less than accidents. This fact is proven
consistently by the experience of thousands of
industrial operations.
• The direct cost is represented by medical care,
compensation, etc. The indirect cost of 4–10 times the
direct cost must be calculated, as well as the loss of
wages to employees and the reflection of these losses
on the entire community.

These three factors are reason enough to have a health

and safety program.
Importance of a written safety plan
• It is also important that these programs be
formalized in writing, since a written program
sets the foundation and provides a consistent
approach to occupational health and safety
for the company.
 Importance of written safety plan
• There are logical reasons for a written safety and health
program. Some of them are as follows;
– It provides standard directions, policies, and procedures for all
company personnel.
– It states specifics regarding safety and health and clarifies
misconceptions.
– It explains the goals and objectives regarding workplace safety and
health.
– It forces the company to actually define its view of safety and
health.
– It sets out in black and white the rules and procedures for safety
and health that everyone in the company must follow.
– It is a plan that shows how all aspects of the company’s safety and
health initiative work together.
– It is a primary tool of communications of the standards set by the
company regarding safety and health.
 BUILDING A SAFETY AND HEALTH
PROGRAM
• The primary guideline for employers to
develop an organized safety and health
program are as follows;
– Employers are advised and encouraged to
organize and maintain in their establishments a
program, which provides systematic policies,
procedures, and practices that are adequate to
recognize and protect their employees from
occupational and health hazards.
– Effective program includes provisions for the
systematic identification, evaluation, and prevention
or control of general workplace hazards, specific job
hazards, and potential hazards that may arise from
predictable conditions.
– Although compliance with the law is an important
objective, an effective program looks beyond specific
requirements of law to address all hazards. This
effectively will seek to prevent injuries and illnesses,
whether or not compliance is at issue.
 – Extent to which the program is described in writing is
less important than how effective it is in practice. As
the size of a worksite or the complexity of a hazardous
operation increases, however, the need for written
guidance also increases to ensure clear
communications of policies and priorities and
consistent and fair application of rules.
• The primary elements that should be addressed
within this program are
– management leadership and
– employee participation,
– hazard identification and assessment,
– hazard prevention and control,
– information and training, and
– evaluation of program effectiveness.
 HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND
ASSESSMENT
• The employer must systematically identify and
assess hazards to which employees are exposed
and assess compliance with the standards.
• The employer must conduct
– inspections of the workplace;
– review safety and health information;
– evaluate new equipment, materials, and
– processes for hazards before they are introduced into
the workplace;
– and assess the severity of identified hazards and
– rank those hazards that cannot be corrected
immediately according to their severity.
• Identification of hazards includes those items
that can assist you with identifying workplace
hazards and determining what corrective
action is necessary to control them.
• These items include
– jobsite safety inspections,
– accident investigations,
– safety and health committees, and
– project safety meetings.
• To accomplish the identification of hazards, the
following items should be addressed:
– Periodic site safety inspection program involves
supervisors.
– Preventative controls in place [personal protective
equipment (PPE), maintenance, engineering controls]
– Action taken to address hazards
– Safety committee, where appropriate
– Technical references available
– Enforcement procedures implemented by
management