That same old safety program needs a re-cost, a reboot, refresh and a restart– 1. Start at Start

Just think – if you were ever in court the last thing you would want to hear is employees recanting that “we had a vegetarian safety program – no meat - just rinse and repeat”.  Guaranteed it would be better to hear “We were always harping on safety, this was the full meal deal”.  To achieve savings while enhancing safety, consider a structured approach and build an iron-clad defense from the get-go:

1. Conduct a Comprehensive Audit

• Identify Costs: Review all expenses related to safety, like a detective on a budget, including training, equipment, compliance, and incident management.
• Understand and Analyze Data: Use historical data or estimates to understand the costs.  Remember to also imagine the invisible costs that are associated with accidents, audits, and fines. There are some costs you can’t afford to pay and you will want to consider these!

2. Engage Employees

• Solicit Input: Ask employees for their thoughts and ideas. They’re the front-line warriors! Encourage feedback on safety practices (useful and useless) and cost-saving opportunities. They often have firsthand knowledge of inefficiencies and risks.
• Promote Ownership: Empower teams to take responsibility for safety in their areas, which can lead to innovative solutions and improved compliance.

3.  Challenge Every Cost

• Benchmarking: Compare your safety costs and practices with industry standards, or your past, to identify areas where you can improve or reduce costs.
• Negotiate Contracts: Review contracts with suppliers and service providers for safety equipment and services to secure better rates.

Conclusion

Its all about gathering data and then, in turn, you can provide information.  Your employees can understand that these are real costs and that choices on how money is spent can prevent safety incidents, and affect overall expenses, your reputation, and most importantly, people lives.

By systematically reviewing costs, engaging employees, and fostering a safety culture, you can not only squeeze savings from your cost center but also create a safer work environment. Each dollar saved contributes to sustainable gains, improving both the bottom line and overall safety performance.  The effort in understanding your expenditures builds that iron-clad program plus that iron-clad defense if you should ever need it.

As a bonus - Did you know that Workhub’s simple, all-inclusive $4 per user per month Compliance management software has a number of functions (like surveys, suggestions and polls plus our new Kudo’s component) to engage with your employees to further enhance your safety program.  Our customer support team is always available to help and its always free to book a demo at www.Workhub.com.

This is the first of a four-part series on how to cut safety costs safely.  You can find the rest of the series at our website under “blog”.

Part 1: Start at the start.

Part 2: 10 simple ways to reduce costs.

Part 3: Saving time, effort and money.

Part 4: keeping sustainable results.