Review your Health and Safety Program Annually – or More Often
Springtime is just around the corner, and now is the perfect time to review your health and safety program.
It is considered to be a best practice and an industry standard that health and safety programs, including policies, procedures, and training records and requirements, be reviewed at least annually. An annual review ensures that your health and safety program is doing what it was intended to do, and not having unintended undesirable effects. An annual review is best practice, but that doesn’t mean that a program can’t be reviewed more often. In some cases, it’s necessary. Why review a program more frequently?
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There’s a lot more to reviewing the health and safety program than just giving it a once over and declaring it “good to go” for another year.
Conducting a Health and Safety Program Review
There’s a lot more to reviewing the health and safety program than just giving it a once over and declaring it “good to go” for another year.
Consider the following 3 essential elements of a Health and Safety Program Review:
Consider the following 3 essential elements of a Health and Safety Program Review:
1. The Health and Safety Policy
Review your health and safety policy first, and ask yourself:
If your policy review indicates that the policy may need to be refreshed, start there. Get your policy written and then move on to the health and safety program review. |
2. The Health and Safety Program
Review your health and safety program elements next. As you go through the various policies, procedures, forms, and processes keep this primary objective in mind: Does this element do what it’s intended to do? For example, lockout procedures are meant to keep workers from being injured by electrical hazards. Does your lockout policy and program aim to protect workers from hazards? Is it effective? If the answer is yes, then move on to the next element. If you aren’t sure, it may be time to bring in a consultant to help you identify deficiencies and make improvements. Forms, paperwork, and policies all need to function as intended. Review your program in its entirety, questioning the usefulness, relevance, and effectiveness of each element. Don’t forget to consider the value the element adds to the program. Workers buy in to the safety program more readily when they understand the value of the forms they have to fill out, policies they have to abide by, and training they have to complete. |
3. The Health and Safety Training Program
Reviewing training programs, policies, and records will help you identify whose training is expired or coming due. It will also help you to identify gaps in the training program that need to be addressed. A thorough review may indicate that a new machine, chemical, or process was introduced since the last review and that employees require specific training. Or, there may have been training advances or legislated mandatory training updates that will render your training program incomplete until new programs are introduced.
Most importantly, a review of the training program will help you to determine whether the training is reducing accidents, incidents, lost time injuries, lost time, etc. in order to help you determine whether the training program is effective and delivering a desirable return on investment (ROI).
Reviewing training programs, policies, and records will help you identify whose training is expired or coming due. It will also help you to identify gaps in the training program that need to be addressed. A thorough review may indicate that a new machine, chemical, or process was introduced since the last review and that employees require specific training. Or, there may have been training advances or legislated mandatory training updates that will render your training program incomplete until new programs are introduced.
Most importantly, a review of the training program will help you to determine whether the training is reducing accidents, incidents, lost time injuries, lost time, etc. in order to help you determine whether the training program is effective and delivering a desirable return on investment (ROI).
Trust MidSouthWest Training and Consulting
If your annual springtime program review turned up some opportunities for improvement, know that you don’t have to go it alone. MidSouthWest Training and Consulting offers consulting and health and safety program audit services. We can either review an existing program to help you identify gaps, or we can start from scratch and help you build an entirely customized health and safety program. You can trust MidSouthWest Training and Consulting to provide you with cost-effective advice and solutions tailored to meet your organization’s unique health and safety needs.
To ask questions about your improving your organization’s health and safety program, contact us online or call 289.309.1143. Visit us 24/7 on the web at midsouthwest.ca.
To ask questions about your improving your organization’s health and safety program, contact us online or call 289.309.1143. Visit us 24/7 on the web at midsouthwest.ca.
Last updated March 19, 2020