Document KJmm5OqOyxjbgV7jEeZ5a2ngw

Organizing the Safety Program Safety program organization may be de fined as a method employed by management to share and to assign responsibility for acci dent prevention and to ensure performance under that responsibility A safety progiam is not something that is imposed on company organization Safety must be built into every process or product design and into every operation It must be an integral part of company operations The prevention of accidents and injuries is basically achieved through control of the work ing environment and control of people's ac tions Only management can implement such control A company that has an effective safety pro gram will have a working environment m which operations can be conducted economi cally, efficiently, and safely Safety beyond OSHA The OSHAct, discussed in the previous chapter, has stimulated many organizations to get into activities intended to bring the or ganization into compliance with the Act This new awareness of safety is beneficial if it results in a sincere effort by top management to take effective action to eliminate work mjunes Such organized activity goes beyond mere compliance with OSHA standards which largely mvolve equipment and physical con ditions The stated objective of the OSHAct is to reduce occupational injuries and illnesses Therefore, evidence of organized safety ac tivities and proof of injury reduction should be brought to the attention of the OSHA Compliance Officer at the time of the inspec tion This will demonstrate management's parallel objective to eliminate accidents Such evidence may also be the basis for a reduction in the number of OSHA citations or in the amount of the proposed jpenalbes, if any Conversely, superficial activities and mini mal compliance cannot be considered as a viable safety program Not only will such activities be ineffective in controlling accidents and occupational health hazards, but they will give a false sense of security and expose man agement's lack of control over more basic accident causes Basic elements of a safety organization Analysis of safety programs in plants or concerns with outstanding safety records shows that invariably the programs are built around the seven basic elements shown in the illustra tion (Fig 3-1) These elements or principles of accident prevention are the same m any industry and in any organization, large or small Thus, although there is wide variation in the methods used m individual organiza tions, each mcoiporates most if not all of the seven basic elements shown in Fig 3--1. Assumption of responsibility Top management's attitude and approach toward accident prevention is almost invari ably reflected m the attitude of the supervisory force Similarly, the worker's attitude is usu ally the same as his supervisor's Thus, if top management is not genuinely interested in preventing accidents, no one else is likely to be Since this basic fact applies to every level of management and supervision, an accident control program must result from top manage ment's announced and demonstrated interest if employee co-operation and participation are to be obtained The details for carrying out an accident prevention program may be assigned, but the responsibility for the basic policy cannot be delegated Delegation of responsibility for safety cannot be made merely by appointing a safety director or some safety committees and expecting them to function m an effective manner The top execubve officer of a com pany is responsible for overall safe perform ance He must constantly review such per formance, this is best done through regular lines of supervision In the beginning, the safety program re quires close execubve attenbon because it is generally a new activity Consequently, the overall policy should be prepared so it will state clearly the objecbves to be achieved Declaration of company policy A company--large or small--that attempts to stop accidents without a definite guiding policy--one which is planned, publicized, and promoted--will find itself continuously "fight ing fires " Management, if it wants acceptable safety performance, must first write a safety policy. 49