health & safety
employees of Morguard must report all incidents as soon as they
occur, and as the company continues to communicate employee
responsibilities with regards to reporting, Morguard has seen a
marked improvement in incident reporting over time.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
An environment of continuous improvement helps to keep health
and safety goals top of mind and provides a consistent set of goals
for employees to strive toward. In addition to creating a robust
response plan in the event of an emergency, constantly seek ways to
enhance these plans, working in partnership with team members.
COLLABORATION
Employee engagement in an occupational health and safety
driven culture is fostered by collaboration. Encourage employees
and tenants to participate actively in OHS initiatives through
inclusive program planning, implementation and measurement.
Additionally, work together to identify potential hazards and col-laborate
on solutions and risk mitigation for those hazards.
EDUCATION
It’s important to arm employees with the tools and resources they
need to do their part in driving occupational health and safety.
Invest in educational programs and policies that ensure high
standards are being met across the organization. Keep employee
training ongoing to ensure knowledge stays current and top-of-mind,
as well as account for updates and improvements to systems
and processes currently in place. Online resources and training
tools should be available to all employees and managers to support
ongoing education around occupational health and safety.
ONGOING COMMUNICATION
Communication is key to maintaining all of the above components.
Maintain ongoing communication across the entire organization,
from the CEO down, about the importance of health and safety,
shared accountabilities and progress towards goals. Additionally,
monitor employee completion of core training programs and
communicate closely with all staff to make sure educational
requirements are completed and that employees are aware of – and
doing – everything they can to mitigate any risk.
The goal of a successful health and safety culture is a work envi-ronment
where everyone looks out for their fellow employees and
feels motivated to actively participate in maintaining, enhancing
and designing processes that keep themselves, and each other, safe.
The guidelines above provide a meaningful path to achieving this. n
John May is director, Risk Management and Insurance
at Morguard.
WHILE LEADING
BY EXAMPLE IS
ESSENTIAL, IT’S EQUALLY
IMPORTANT TO ENSURE
EVERYONE HAS A
ROLE IN MAINTAINING
HEALTH AND SAFETY.
Rabia Elif Aksoy/123rf.com
28 ❚ DECEMBER 2018 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
/123rf.com