SAFETY BLOG

Safety trainings in Ohio are becoming more common as liabilities have increased throughout the years.  Ohio is listed as a federal OSHA state and uses OSHA standards as their own.  More and more contractors in the State of Ohio are requiring their subcontractors to have OSHA safety training certificates to perform work on their projects.  These certificates equal a reduction in liability insurance and potential safety related problems for the contractors.  If you are a company that is engaging in a lot of work in Ohio, chances are good that you will be asked if your employees are OSHA safety certified.

Many contractors will require your base employees to have OSHA 10 certification and your management staff to have OSHA 30.  The 10 hour certification is a general introduction to the identification and abatement of hazards in the workplace, and the 30 hour certification is a more detailed examination of hazards and the OSHA standards that regulate and protect workers from them.  So the question arises, who can train our employees to get this safety certification?

You will not have to look far to find a OSHA Outreach trainer, but you will want to get an idea of how the information is presented.  Most people who sit through these trainings will tell you that it was the most boring training they have ever endured in their life.  Listen folks, it does not have to be that way.  To make this training a rewarding experience for your employees, you should be asking safety trainers for their experience and methods before deciding on which trainer to use.

Ask them if they have any personal experience mitigating workplace accidents or injuries, and whether or not they have been responsible for the safety of others in a workplace.  Generally, trainers who have been responsible for others or have dealt with workplace accidents tend to have more passion for the importance of safety.  That passion leads to more commitment to the education of employees.

Lastly, ask them how the information is conveyed to the trainees.  If the trainer says, "I use a power point presentation", that should raise a red flag to mean that they are going to just flip through slides and read what is on them.  Look for trainers that use multimedia and group activities in their trainings.  A mixture of power points, videos, case studies, group worksheets, discussions, and reenactments is an excellent way to convey important safety information and all the while keeping the audience engaged, thinking, and involved.

Bottom line, boring safety trainings identifies safety as a burden in the workplace.  Your employees will feel as though it is a burden that they are forced to carry.  Remember, being proactive instead of reactive in regards to safety is what you should be striving for.  Locating safety trainers that are not only experienced but entertaining as well, is a proactive step in lightening the load of safety in the workplace.

Webster defines integrity as: 1. completeness 2. unimpaired condition; soundness 3. honesty, sincerity, etc. What a great word.  Today, words such as integrity and sincerity are used as catch phrases or ad words, but where is the substance or meaning.  The essence of words such as these are not reflected by the people using them.

American businesses used to pride themselves on the meaning of integrity.  If you stopped to get fuel fifty years ago, someone would pump your fuel, wash your windows, check under the hood, and put air in your tires.  Today, we are grossly overcharged for fuel, we pump it ourselves, we're lucky to have window washing fluid in the bucket to wash our windows with, and we have to pay for air.  See a problem here?  Our needs as clients have been dropped as a priority for successful businesses.  This is only one example being used as a model.  Nevertheless, most American businesses operate under these very same principles.  It should not be surprising that there is no consumer trust in American business these days.

"The client knows best" is a phrase that most people cannot remember anymore.  Well, it's time to jar their memories.  What do you want your business reputation to stand for?  Integrity?  If so, its time to get back to putting the client first.  Go the extra mile.  Include extra services at no charge.  Talk to your clients on a regular basis.  Make them feel like they are your only client.  In the words of Jerry Maguire; "less clients and more personal attention". 

Ask yourself, where have all of our business heroes gone?  I think they still exist, but have been silenced by cost-cutting practices, corporate influence, and the devastating current American business trend of maximizing profit margins.  Centering on your clients will reinvest their trust in your company, thus securing your client base, and eventually increase your word-of-mouth leads.  It is up to every American business owner to personally take the steps to reinvent the client-based business.  Once this trust is established, the health & safety of American business will be secured. 

Team huddles are not just for football.  A fifteen minute Monday morning huddle will make a big difference in your companies safety record.  On Friday, at the end of each work week, have your managers or supervisors review the events of the past week and decide which safety topics need to be addressed for the following week.  Take a few minutes and develop a brief outline that can be reviewed with employees.  Monday morning, while everyone is loading up on coffee, take fifteen minutes and discuss the safety outline.  Review the outline, encourage discussion, accept ideas, and then have all employees sign the outline to show that the meeting actually took place.

This simple safety exercise will benefit your company in the following ways:

• A list developed by your company centers on hazards that are pertinent to your business and operations.  Companies that use safety reviews developed by third parties only talk about safety topics provided by that company which are not necessarily pertinent to your business.
• Performing this review on a weekly basis creates safety-minded managers and employees. 
• Signed topic outlines should be kept for training purposes.  Governing safety agencies can see the evidence that shows your company is making strides to be safety compliant.
• Discussions arising from the Monday huddles will give managers a good indication where employee knowledge is lacking.  Further, more detailed trainings can be developed and implemented to meet these needs.
• Companies that conduct weekly safety meetings are less likely to have accidents or injuries in the workplace.

Time to huddle up folks.  Safety should always be considered a team event.  Use your heads, watch each others backs, be ready for anything, good luck...Go get em.  BREAK! 

In these tough economic times, it is our business relationships that are going to save and sustain small businesses.  Competition is getting pretty cut throat out there.  Supply is up and demand is down.  Ouch.  Most small business professionals are sitting at their desks staring at the phone waiting for it to ring.  Will it?  It's time to go on the offense and start placing those calls.  Break out the rolodex people and get back to basics.  Dust off the business card file and rekindle those old business contacts that used to be so vital to the early days of your company.  During down time, get online and start engaging social media outlets.  Build new relationships on these sites and turn them into leads and word-of-mouth traffic.  With today's technology, business networking has never been easier.  It will truly be the fail-safe of the next few years.

A progressive safety firm has found a new breed of safety consultants.  Heroic Safety Soltuions has added safety forces personnel such as firemen, paramedics, and police officers to its arsenal of safety trainers.  These are people who deal with workplace accidents and injuries everyday.  They are hard working Americans that have won the hearts of our communities.  Who better to relate to and train our workforce.  Every city in the United States is stocked with these professionals, and everyone of them has expertise and certifications in different areas of safety.  The trial run has been extremely successful.  Employees trust and rely on the reputations of these professionals.  They keep the attention of their audiences by using real life stories of accidents and tragedies in their trainings, which employees seem to love.  The days of boring safety trainings led by "the snot-nosed college kid" are gone.  Enter Heroic Safety Trainers.

Heroic Safety Solutions

Securing construction jobs in our current economy is becoming more and more difficult.  Not only is there less work available, but the new shift in bidding requirements is a strong reputation in safety.  Construction contractors are beginning to realize that being safety-minded will not only lower accidents and injuries in the workplace, but will also secure their business futures.  The low-bid does not always win the job anymore.  Liabilities have forced firms and companies to limit bidding prospects to construction companies that have impecable safety records.  Reducing liabilities and risks of accidents far outweighs the few dollars saved by awarding to the lowest bidder.  If you are a construction company that has a record of recorded accidents and injuries plus multiple OSHA violations, your chances of even bidding on future projects is greatly diminished.  Become proactive rather than reactive when it comes to safety in the construction industry.  Contact Heroic Safety Solutions to learn how to become a safety-minded construction company and start transforming your company's reputation for safety.