It's a new year and you're back from vacation ready to tackle the safety challenges of tomorrow. This is a time to reflect on EHS performance for the past year and decide what your main focus areas should be in 2023. We've put together a few resolutions for you to consider.
#1 - Improve frontline communication
Is everyone in your organization happy to voice safety concerns to their managers? If not, consider this for a new years resolution. Creating a fearless culture will naturally reduce incidents and increase overall productivity.
#2 - Don't forget the new hires
It's easy to forget about your most at-risk cohort in the workforce while playing catch-up after the holidays. Make a point to check-in with new staff after a couple weeks and make sure they understand and follow their safety training. New hires are often your greatest resource for uncovering potential safety issues - get their feedback before your teams current habits and culture become engrained.
#3 - Take time for your own well-being
It's 2023 - start practicing some self-care if you aren't already. Safety professionals have a lot of responsibility in being accountable for the safety of the workforce at large - not a very light burden if you ask us. Anxiety and feeling overwhelmed are common; try to think of a few ways to take care of your mental well-being. If you need a suggestion, maybe try out a mindfulness app for your phone - we've heard great things!
#4 - Audit your policies, procedures, and workflows
Before getting distracted with the new problems of the new year, take a moment (well, days) to review your policies, procedures, and work processes. Now is the time to review accidents, injuries, job hazard analysis with unmitigated residual risk, safety violations, near miss processes, etc. Take a look at which teams report more issues (and reward them!) and find your biggest problem areas.
#5 - Get organized
The larger your organization becomes the more opportunities exist for the ball to be dropped. There is no better time than the present to get all of your safety workflows built up in a safety platform like SafetyAmp. Keep everyone involved in safety organized and on-task with the workflows and processes you build out.
#6 - Celebrate wins more often
One key tenet of a motivated, proactive frontline is celebrating wins and accomplishments. Make it a point to find something positive to celebrate. Close the loop on safety feedback and celebrate any employee-generated impact frequently.
#7 - Assess your organization trends in your EHS reporting suite
You've got an entire year worth of safety data at your fingertips, it's time to put your data to work. Get all of your Prior Year reports assembled and put together (hopefully you have an EHS platform like SafetyAmp to help!) and build a picture for your team of last years trends. Break your leading and lagging indicators down by location and any data fields you have for categorization to drill into what your focus areas need to be in 2023.
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