“Don’t learn safety by accidents” – Jerry Smith

While working at any construction site or industry, it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that their employees are safe and protected. Working in critical and hazardous areas that can cause or affect the employee’s physical or mental health, makes it essential to practise an industrial safety culture that promotes healthy and productive working. An effective industrial safety culture helps employers accelerate their morale and work with confidence, create a safe environment, and avoid accidents or injuries occurring at industry or construction sites.

There are multiple initiatives and programmes run by various industries and NGOs to spread awareness about adapting safety cultures. Adopting a safety culture helps industries identify their potential hazards to prevent injuries and accidents. But there are several necessary lists of things that are important to know, such as:

• Providing Proper Training
• Regular Maintenance of equipment
• Emergency Response Plans
• Compulsory Sign Boards

This will help industries and employees easily understand the basic set of rules and how to react or take action during emergencies. A strong safety culture starts at the top and permeates throughout the entire industry. Management must demonstrate a commitment to safety by setting clear safety policies and objectives. By continuously reviewing and improving safety practices, organisations can ensure they are upholding the highest standards of industrial safety and mitigating potential risks effectively.

But along with awareness, there are a few effective strategies that one should know. Let’s understand essential steps that industries can take to ensure industrial safety and create a safer workplace for all.

1. Promote a safety culture:

A strong safety culture starts with proper awareness. It is the industry’s first duty to make workers or employees aware of “What is safety culture and why is it important?”. The organisation can add some compulsory rules, guidelines, and policies to promote a strict safety culture and help employees speak about their opinions, feedback, and reviews to identify current potential hazards.

2. Safety training:

Educating and providing training to your employees will help them to make wise decisions during emergencies. Special training for managers and supervisors is needed because, as leaders, they can guide employees to execute safe and successful rescue plans. With proper training, employees can identify the various hazards, report them, and control the situations wisely. Training also includes the process of wearing PPE suits, gadgets, and handling equipment properly.

Specific safety training to supervisors and managers:

Safety Leadership and Communication: The training is centered on improving safety leadership abilities, such as inspiring others and communicating effectively. It aids managers and supervisors in promoting a healthy safety culture among their staff.

Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment: This training assists managers and supervisors in acquiring the knowledge necessary to recognize workplace hazards, evaluate potential risks, and put in place the necessary controls to lessen those risks.

Emergency Preparedness and Response: The goal of this training is to better equip managers and supervisors to deal with situations including evacuations, fires, and natural disasters. It contains evacuation processes, emergency preparations, and communication protocols.

3. Report of unsafe conditions:

If employees identify some potential hazard that can hurt someone or put their life in danger, then they immediately report it to the supervisor to fix the problem to avoid any unforeseen situations. To encourage this reporting culture, managers or employers should reward their employees for reducing the risk of workplace accidents and injuries. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to fix the problem and take quick action, like informing employees about the issue, ensuring it is safe, and calling emergency help prior to avoiding any injuries or accidents.

4. Equipment inspection:

Regular equipment inspection is the best way to keep your industry safe to work in. A quick examination should be practised every day before starting work. Due to equipment malfunctions, multiple accidents and injuries take place in industries and construction sites. The detailed weekly equipment inspection maintains a good balance between work and safety. And these malfunctions should not be neglected by anyone, as they can be a potential hazard and endanger lives.

5. Emergency action plan:

An emergency action plan is very crucial to follow by industries to act quickly; having a prior action plan is a must in critical situations. Through proper training, emergency action plans are being developed where employees learn how to handle the situation, where the exit gates are, and how to evacuate quickly.

6. Procurement of PPEs from authorised or trusted suppliers:

Industrial workplaces should consistently ensure that their machinery and equipment are from authorised suppliers and are safe to use. Certified or licenced equipment for employees or workers prevents accidents and injuries.