Even today, many people organizations and managers are asking themselves: Why should we work on Safety? What are the benefits? Here are my 4 reasons for working on safety:
- - I don’t want to get hurt
It’s that simple. I want to healthy. I want to return home in the same, or better, health.
- - I don’t want to see other get hurt
Any good leader has a genuine concern for the wellbeing and safety of all the people under his responsibility and influence. A good leader suffers when someone in the organization gets hurt.
- - I am very grateful to those who take care of my wellbeing and safety
If someone saves your life, or helps you avoid injury or sickness, what do you say? “Thank you”! This is the only good answer to any – properly done – health and safety observation. “Please, wear your seat belt; it will help you avoid injury in case of an accident” – “Thank you”. “Please, wear your gloves; it will help you avoid minor cuts and pinching” – “Thank you”.
- - I get very mad with anyone who puts my wellbeing and safety at risk
This is one of the reasons for stopping unsafe acts; deriving from points 1 and 2. When someone commits an unsafe act, he puts himself and others, possibly including me, at risk.
As you can see, for the most part, I work on safety to take care of my own wellbeing. There’s no mention of the company or organization. However, if you don’t think these 4 reasons are enough to work on safety, there’re many benefits for the organization:
- - Operational continuity: an accident or environmental incident can stop an operation for a long period. Proper work on safety strongly helps avoid these types of incidents.
- - Operational Improvement: good safety requires well-structured operational process, good work-planning and previous analysis of any activity; all this makes for higher efficiency and productivity in any operation.
- - Support in case of litigation: in case of an incident, if you can demonstrate good health and safety systems and process, you might be able to reduce your legal liability.
You can make a long list of the benefits for an organization of working on safety, but it’s not why I do it.
I do it for me!