Ideas and Insights
for Safety Champions

Accessing adequate resources to build and manage strong safety programs is a major issue for safety leaders.  Safety is often viewed as a cost, instead of a strategic long-term investment. In the worst case it can even be viewed as a barrier to profitability. The truth, however, is the exact opposite. Beyond the tragic impacts of loss of life or increased injuries, the negative impacts can be wide-ranging and can severely or permanently destroy a company. Conversely, companies who have strong safety programs often see boosts to performance and productivity across their operations.  

Every business has a reputation. It’s the summation of opinions and beliefs about your business which have been formed by your past activities or the biases that people may hold about you. Positive experiences lead to a positive reputation and vice versa. Simple in concept, managing your reputation can, in reality, be like herding cats. 

We all have habits. It might be drinking a cup of coffee in the morning, or looking both ways before you cross the street. These activities become so repetitive that we stop thinking about what we're doing - they become automatic. Habits can be a useful way to save energy when making routine and frequent decisions.  

Keeping workers safe is a foundational element of any successful business. Safety incidents result in innumerable costs—direct and indirect—and their ripple effect can spread far and wide, often in irreparable ways.  

Building an effective safety program is critical for all organizations – regardless of industry. Safety incidents cost employers more than 200 billion per year and often result in irreparable loss of life and public trust. Unfortunately, measuring and reporting on safety metrics can be difficult and, as a result, many organizations incorrectly view safety as a cost center with no connection to the bottom line. Scarcity of organizational resources often leaves the safety team scrimping to build effective programs and many organizations get stuck merely reacting. Attributing the measurable impacts of your organization's safety programs is critical to improving lone worker safety, getting management buy-in and acquiring future resources.