Page 18 - Ohio RA 2011 Winter FlipBook

16 www.ohiorestaurant.org Winter 2012 Issue

But you need to be open to this feedback. If you cause ineffciency, you will not get staff commitment and your workers will take shortcuts and expose themselves to injury as a result of their behaviors. Safety and effciency can and should go hand-in-hand. Remember the key to the balanced scorecard approach: quantify the achievement of your objectives. If you determine that a timely accident reporting and investigation process is the key to controlling the frequency and severity of the injury claims fled, commit to capturing the lag between the date and time of injury and the date and time of the reporting. However, with such a policy you must also consider our last key area, which is innovation.

For a busy supervisor to commit to the need to submit complete incident reports in a timely manner, they will need to be educated on why this is important. They could be educated on how a lag in information exposes more employees to the same hazard

while inhibiting proper management of a workers’ compensation claim from a cost containment standpoint. Innovation could also be approached from the perspective of getting the workforce to understand the hazards present and the measures required to prevent injuries. Traditional PowerPoint presentations don’t cut it anymore – develop new ways to engage your workforce so that you can learn how they perceive the risks they take and so you can also develop more interesting ways to protect your business’s most precious resources – your associates.

After considering how fnding success in creating the safest workplace possible would change your business in the four key areas, you should have developed three to four quantifable objectives. These objectives and their measures should be summarized in an easily understood implementation plan that highlights the intended impact on the four key areas. I would also suggest that you consider the manner in which

you will communicate the objectives and their desired effect to the workforce and further recommend instituting plans for quarterly reviews of the measures. Once this is done, the plan can be taken to your top-level management to seek their input and approval. With such an approach, you stand a better chance of obtaining upper management support and involvement, which ultimately determines the success or failure of your initiative.

By Brad Hunt Director, RiskControl360°

Proper Food Safety Means Protecting Your Hands

They’re a valuable asset that must be protected

Most jobs require that you use your hands in some way. In fact, next to your eyes your hands are probably the most important part of your body when it comes to doing your job. Your hands are your wage earners, a valuable asset that must be protected. It’s up to you to prevent your hands from being among the over 500,000 injured each year. Play your part in the hand safety effort. Remember, it’s up to you to:

• Wear proper hand protection for the job. Be sure you know the right kind of glove for the job. If you’re not sure, ask.

• Think through each task before you start it — know what you’re asking your hands to do.

• Follow safety rules, even if you’ve gotten away with short cuts before. It only takes one wrong move to suffer a serious hand injury.

• Seek prompt treatment if an accident does occur. Prompt treatment can help prevent more serious consequences, such as an infection from occurring.

• Report all injuries to your supervisor, immediately. He needs to know the specifcs of the accident to help prevent if from occurring again.

When you think about workplace safety responsibilities, you probably think about all the regulations and requirements OSHA puts on management to identify hazards and protect their employees. It’s true that management does have a big share in the responsibility for workplace safety, yet OSHA also gives employees a share of responsibility for safety as well. In return for the “right to a safe workplace,” OSHA assigns certain specifc responsibilities to employees, including the responsibility to:

Do your share in making a safer workplace by following these rules:

• Obey OSHA standards.

• Follow workplace safety and health rules.

• Use assigned personal protective equipment (PPE).

• Participate in required safety training.

• Report hazardous conditions to management so they can take swift corrective action.

• Report job-related accidents, injuries and illnesses to your supervisor and get medical attention.

• Cooperate with OSHA inspectors if they inspect your facility.

In addition to these practices, you should:

• Take responsibility for learning everything you need to know about your job and work area so you can always work safely.

• Avoid taking risks and engaging in any unsafe acts.

• Talk to your supervisor any time you have a question about your safety.

• Cooperate in safety inspections and hazard analysis programs.

• Participate in safety committees and/or other safety initiatives.

• Look for ways to make your job and the workplace safer and offer suggestions on how to implement better safety procedures.

If we all do our share and take responsibility for safety of ourselves and coworkers, we can’t fail in our mission to prevent accidents, injuries and work-related illness.