No, this is not going to be an article regarding your spring-cleaning efforts.  It’s kind of the wrong time of the year for that reminder.   However, we are recommending that now is the time to dust off the three-ring binder containing your community’s Accident Prevention Program.  (APP) As a reminder, every employer is required to have an APP, on site. An APP should identify site specific hazard exposures and describe a process to identify hazards, remediate those hazards and to train employees to identify and to eliminate or avoid hazards.  Most of you have an APP on site, but you may not have reviewed it in a while.  It is joke told by some DOSH compliance officers that they their base non-compliance penalties on how many inches of dust are on the APP binder.   While this might not be exactly how L&I calculates penalties, DOSH compliance officers do want to see evidence that your APP is in place and is being utilized to improve workplace safety.

This year, CRM’s loss prevention specialist, Cathy Reineke is focusing on Leadership Led Safety.  This involves engaged executives and senior management taking an active part in furthering safety for their organization.   In our experience, your employees need to see senior management, “walking the talk.”  In practice, this means executives committing to participate in at least two safety committee meetings a year.  This can go a long way growing a safety culture in your community.

Many of you already have employee recognition programs in place.  If you are not already doing so, why not include similar recognition for employees “caught” working safely? 

So, dust off your APP and give it a look on a regular basis. A safe and healthful workplace is executive management’s statutory obligation.   While the day-to-day administration of your safety program can be delegated, if you are in a leadership position, you still need to be personally involved if a Leadership Led Safety culture is to exist in your community.  So go ahead and direct your safety committee to include a review of the APP as part of its regular agenda but don’t forget to crack open your APP, yourself, if you haven’t reviewed it in a while.  If you do this, you can avoid a DOSH “dust on the APP penalty” and you will create a safety culture resulting in reduced accident frequency and severity.   This focus on safety will positively impact your bottom line and improve the lives of your employees.