What Keeps You up at Night? Making Workplace Safety Top Priority

By Deb Hilmerson

We can build elaborate multi-million-dollar buildings but we can’t stop seriously injuring and killing people on construction sites. The million-dollar question is why? Not long ago, I read an article listing the top five things that keep most CEOs awake at night. Worker safety wasn’t even considered. I can pretty much guarantee it’s on your mind now. And if you’ve ever had an on-the-job fatality, it’s not something you’ll ever want to experience again. We are getting better but we are not improving fast enough.

Ask yourself the hard questions: Do you do safety because the law says so, or because it’s a core value of your organization? Do you properly pre-plan and bid each job for safety? Do you allocate enough money, time and resources to properly support your project team? Top industry leaders don’t see safety as an add-on. They integrate it into everything they do.

If you’re cutting corners on safety to keep down costs, you may want to reconsider your rationale. Do you know how much a workplace injury really costs your organization? You think it’s just the direct medical and indemnity costs? Think again. Have you thought about all the indirect costs?  You say, what are those? Here’s a list and these are just the starters.

• Administrative time spent on post-injury paperwork
• Clean up, repair and replacement costs of damaged property and/or machinery
• Wages due to the injured worker for absences not covered by workers’ compensation
• Time lost due to the work stoppage associated with the worker’s injury
• Related overtime costs to make up for that lost time
• Replacement worker training costs
• Lost productivity related to work rescheduling
• OSHA fines and any associated legal action
• Third-party liability and legal costs
• Bad publicity resulting in reputation damage

OSHA’s $afety Pays campaign uses a sliding scale to calculate these indirect costs, and the amounts can be staggering. For example, your direct costs of a worker injury may be $2,999 but your indirect costs are estimated to be 4.5 times that amount: $13,495.

The payoffs of building a strong safety culture include more than a reduction in reportable injuries and reduced workers’ compensation costs. Construction firms with strong safety records are more likely to hire and retain good workers, to experience improved ROI and to win new contracts.

You can work on improving your safety culture regardless of your business size. Safety starts at the top of the organization. You, the executive, need to lead by example. Participate in pre-bid meetings, walk the jobsites with your leadership team. Be visible and dress accordingly. No suits and shiny shoes. Wear sturdy work boots, hard hats, safety glasses, high-visibility vests and whatever other jobsite PPE is required. Make safety performance a part of a supervisor’s performance review. If they aren’t cutting the mustard, re-train them or set them free just as you would if they weren’t keeping up with your production or quality expectations.

As for the workforce, routinely gather everyone together. Ask for their input. Ask how they perceive safety is being executed on the jobsite. Involving people encourages their personal ownership. Clearly define your safety expectations and hold everyone accountable. (There are no sacred cows!) Use good site preplanning and design to prevent injuries, including the safest forms of perimeter security fencing, barriers and safety guardrail systems. Don’t skimp on safety. Empower everyone. Encourage workers to report unsafe conditions, including near-misses, and consider giving them stop-work authority until certain hazards are corrected.

And, heaven forbid, if you have an accident or serious near-miss, learn from it. Use what happened to determine the root cause. Do not point blame. The bottom line is to ensure everyone goes home to their family safe and sound, and in doing that your safety program will thrive.

What keeps you up at night? I’m not going to lie. Even with a strong safety culture, you’re still going to worry about worker safety. Your workers become your family. Once you truly make workplace safety a top priority, not a priority that changes, you will be able to sleep better. Guaranteed.

Deb Hilmerson is president and CEO of Hilmerson Safety.