Helping to Keep Workers Safe: Walking the Talk

by Mark Robins | 1 March 2021 12:00 am

1. Get Real

Acknowledge the elephant in the room. Talking about safety can feel like somebody is reading from a book but never turns the page. Explain why you talk about safety so much. Share the hard truth and fast facts about fatalities. In addition, give some context by focusing on real-world situations. Tap into safety near-misses that you have experienced. Use the day-to-day challenges your workers face on the job site to make safety more personal.

2. Have a Conversation

Approach every safety talk as a dialogue. Ask open-ended questions such as, “How would you feel if …?” or “Please describe a time when …” These questions can help workers make a connection between the statistical facts of falls and the reality of how it affects their lives. Let employees share, too. Remember, feedback is a powerful tool, and it may lead to new ideas or changes in your safety plan and policies.

3. Be Creative

Keep in mind that people have different ways of listening and learning. Find new ways to present safety information. A short video vignette or a highly visual infographic, for example, can help capture attention or offer a different point of view. Get your PPE out, too, to remind everyone of proper use techniques.

4. Encourage Participation

Ask employees to strut their safety stuff. Have them walk everyone through your safety procedures and protocols or give a demonstration. For example, have workers go through a five-point harness inspection that includes looking at labels, load indicators, webbing, hardware and stitching. Even better? Do some side-by-side challenges and see who can do it in under two minutes. For many, hands-on training and peer-to-peer competition can have more impact than employer-to-employee training.

5. Get Free Resources

Employers have the responsibility to protect the health and safety of their workers, helping to ensure their safe return home at the end of each workday. There are many complimentary resources available from various manufacturers and safety consulting companies to help.

Toolbox Talks

Toolbox talks are a very important safety strategy, regularly used on job sites. White papers and talking points are available to download to help you conduct these meetings regularly and with impact. There are even apps available to help with this.

“Construction falls and safety mistakes are costly in terms of lives, time and money; don’t waste another minute before putting safety front and center.”

Look for a virtual training series on fall prevention safety for the construction industry. Some of these are available at no cost to you. Find additional fall protection safety tips and construction industry resources online. PPE manufacturers know that people in the construction industry are looking for these resources, so many of them have dedicated areas of their websites for this purpose.

When it comes to wearing a harness, it’s time to eliminate the “it’s too hot, too heavy” argument. And, that’s why the discipline of human factors has been combined with the science of fall protection to create more comfortable, contoured, full-body harnesses that let the worker focus on the job—not the harness.

Construction falls and safety mistakes are costly in terms of lives, time and money. Don’t waste another minute before putting safety front and center. Have that conversation with your employees about the hazards they face and what you’re doing to protect them.

Meeting OSHA Standards During COVID-19

In 2020, OSHA issued an Enforcement Memo, “Discretion in Enforcement when Considering an Employer’s Good Faith Efforts During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic,” outlining special provisions and exceptions to meeting OSHA standards for training requirements based on the mitigations put in place in workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mitigation protocols including business closures, travel restrictions, limits on the number of people in group gatherings, no-visitor policies and other stay-at-home requirements have impacted companies around the world. Without the regular, day-to-day business operations in place, OSHA has recognized the challenges in continuing training, auditing, equipment inspections, testing, and other essential safety and industrial hygiene services.

Recognizing these challenges, OSHA has announced that Compliance Safety and Health Officers (CSHOs) should “evaluate whether the employer made good faith efforts to comply with applicable OSHA standards during the course of an inspection. When considering whether or not an employer engaged in good faith compliance efforts, CSHOs should also “evaluate whether the employer thoroughly explored all options to comply with the applicable standard(s) (e.g., the use of virtual training or remote communication strategies).”

If an employer cannot demonstrate any efforts to comply with standards, a citation may be issued; however, in cases where an employer has made attempts to comply in good faith, area offices “shall take such efforts into strong consideration in determining whether to cite a violation.”

As outlined in the OSHA memo, the use of virtual training or remote communication strategies are examples of options to show “good faith” in efforts to meet standards during these unprecedented times.

As one solution, MSA Safety offers Virtual Led Training (VLT) courses for a variety of subjects including Confined Space and Fall Protection, Competent User Level for Portable and Permanent Instruments, and RITE, FIRST and CARE certification and recertification. VLT courses are conducted via the WebEx video conferencing platform with an MSA Training Instructor in the same manner as the current in-person training, and follow the same class format and content that would happen on-site.

Anne Osbourn is senior segment marketing manager for fall protection at MSA Safety Inc., Cranberry Township, Pa. To learn more, visit www.msasafety.com[1] or call (724) 741-8541.

Source URL: https://www.metalconstructionnews.com/articles/helping-to-keep-workers-safe-walking-the-talk/

---