It's All About People! (ePub)

Managers everywhere strive to create a safer workplace. There are many benefits to this, the most important being the wellbeing of employees, customers, and the general public. Most of these efforts will focus on identifying the appropriate policies, training, and enforcement mechanisms to ensure that work is performed in the safest manner possible.

In It's All About People!, the author looks at a critical but sometimes overlooked element in achieving a safe workplace: the people. A company may have the most up-to-date policies and a dedicated group of safety professionals who stand ready to implement those policies, but that's only half of the equation. It's the old carrot or the stick argument. If the policies are managed, and changes to the safety program come down from on high, employees are unlikely to feel any ownership in the process. With no emotional attachment, employees will comply but put forth little effort to offer improvements.

When employees become engaged in creating the safest work environment possible, that moves the gauge. Only then can your company develop a best-in-class safety workplace. It's All About People! will help you attain that level of engagement.

It's All About People! offers numerous real-life examples of managers and employees working together to improve the safety program. Employees who take ownership think about safety constantly and look for ways to make the workplace safer for themselves and their coworkers.

Managers are provided questions to ask themselves to determine if their company has a strong safety culture. What happens if an employee encounters a situation that she thinks is unsafe? How accessible are your company's safety policies? Are your safety meetings productive or a break from work? The answers will help you identify the opportunities your company has to develop a dynamic safety culture.

As with anything involving people, change is challenging. Changing your safety culture can be accomplished, but not without a lot of hard work. It's All About People! provides a roadmap to make that happen.