Think about how your current organization or one with which you are familiar manages its Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) program. Does it use a structured injury and illness prevention program framework, or are programs managed reactively, based on the most recent accident or Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection? What recommendations would you make to improve the existing process? If one does not currently exist, what recommendations would you make to put a program in place? What suggestions do you have for your classmates based on their findings?
ALSO PLEASE REPLY TO ANOTHER STUDENTS COMMENT BELOW
Richard:
The organization that I work for does have an aggressive health and safety program but like any program it has its own issues. We try to push forward and drive leading indicators but end up chasing our tails when holes become present themselves in the program. Some system failures come from evolving technologies and some from poorly written programs. During COVID we were primarily working from home for close to a year and training went to web-based training primarily which presented us additional time to update safety programs. Personally, I was tasked with updating fall protection and am now working on confined space. By updating these programs, it has forced me to get into the small details of each standard creating a good learning experience. With all this said my recommendation in writing any safety program is make sure that there is disciplinary follow-up for failure to comply. Our organization has union employees and sometimes shoots their selves in the foot trying to be good guys all the time and give warnings. I get that to a certain extent but there must be mechanisms built in to lay down the law and terminate before they become a cancer to everyone’s safety and well-being.
