Publication: The Leader
Issue: August 2012
Employee involvement is a key component of the Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP). However, many companies struggle to find meaningful ways to get every employee engaged. During my VPP site visits as a Special Government Employee (SGE), I would often find employee involvement was constrained to small, fringe groups and typically comprised of only a fraction of the entire workforce. Over the years, I became a firm believer that the best and most meaningful way for employees to get involved is through participation in the site or company hazard recognition and control program.
Specifically, this can be done by making workplace observations related to the health and safety program as it relates to behaviors, conditions and/or safety activities. Our studies have shown this to be beneficial from an accident prevention perspective. However, once you begin to involve many people in the safety observation program, new issues arise such as observation quality. As such, I want to identify the benefits of adopting this program, as well as introduce an effective way to both measure and improve observation performance. Read the full article here.
