Much like it takes a village to raise a child, it can take an entire company to create and maintain a safety culture. A single safety professional can’t be everywhere at once, which means that to have a great safety culture, the rest of the company must be invested.

The best way to empower your employees is through knowledge. Thoroughly train your employees on all the environmental and safety hazards they may encounter as part of their job functions and on your facility specific policies. Make certain to record their safety observations, communicate them back to the entire team and alert all employees after an incident has occurred.

Employees must have an accessible way to submit observations of unsafe facility conditions, unsafe processes, incidents, and injuries. In order for this “bottom-up” communication to work, employees must be assured that they will not be subject to retaliation if they submit a suggestion. This can be accomplished by allowing anonymous safety suggestions in your electronic suggestion system or by having a traditional safety suggestion box.

Creating a positive safety culture has been linked to improved productivity and financial success. Include your entire company in your safe work environment to allow for collective learning about safety and the success of the company as a whole.