Safety meetings make a safety program take off and take root. They're a key part of safety training, and most importantly, the best way to motivate workers to get safety out of the classroom and onto the floor.

Yet many supervisors hold few safety meetings and aren't very happy with the ones they do conduct. They feel that the meetings fall short of the mark, but they don't know why or what to do about it.

You can run good safety meetings
Any supervisor can become a safety meeting pro. The key is to understand how to plan and deliver meetings that get results. This infobase will explain how to do just that in a step-by-step process that shows you how to plan, deliver and evaluate your meetings. In addition, you'll find safety meeting presentations on a wide range of the topics that most supervisors want and need to cover.

Once you understand the how-to of safety meetings, you'll have the skill and confidence to share your working knowledge with your employees.

With this infobase you'll be able to make your safety meetings what they can and should be: an interesting and effective way of getting the safety message across and keeping your workers safe and healthy.

Safety is more important than ever
Safety training and enforcement have become an increasingly important part of every supervisor's job. Workers need more training, and especially more ongoing training, to handle their jobs correctly, efficiently and safely.

Equipment is more complex, and the hazards of substances used on the job and of operations are better known. In addition, many companies now expect workers to be able to perform a wider variety of tasks.

Lack of training, especially safety training, can be very costly. Companies are trying hard to build and hold onto business by improving productivity and quality. Unsafe procedures are often reflected in poor and inefficient work habits, which make productivity and quality improvements hard to achieve.

Unless workers are trained and motivated to use what they learn on the job, their employers will fall behind in today's very competitive marketplace and workers' jobs will be at risk.

But a lack of safety training has more tangible costs. Workers and their employers pay dearly in injuries, illnesses and even deaths, as well as property damage. Lost workdays, sick pay, insurance payments and workers' compensation costs add up quickly for companies of all sizes. Also, the money that goes for these payments is not available for other, more beneficial, investments: higher salaries, new equipment, research and development.

Furthermore, consider the following:
• The government keeps passing new safety regulations and is stepping up its enforcement of both new and old regulations all the time.
• The costs of insurance and workers' compensation keep going up, and companies are looking harder for ways to reduce job-related illnesses, injuries and claims.
• Highly publicized on-the-job accidents and injuries, as well as deaths and illnesses apparently related to workplace exposure to hazardous substances, have alerted everyone to the potential risks faced at work.

Safety training regulations
Safety training is no longer a nice-to-have program. It's absolutely mandatory for any company that wants to be productive and profitable.

In fact, it's mandatory for almost any company, regardless of its goals, because of the many laws and regulations governing workplace safety that have been issued by federal and state governments in recent years.

The Hazard Communication Standard, also known as "Right to Know," is one of the most comprehensive sets of regulations, but it is far from the only one. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has countless regulations that affect the operations of every type of industry. And for any particular operation or process that somehow doesn't fall under a specific regulation, OSHA has what's known as the "General Duty Clause" of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. 

This catchall regulation states in Section 5:

a) Each employer—

(1) Shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment, which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to its employees.

(2) Shall comply with occupational safety and health standards promulgated under this Act.

b) Each employee shall comply with occupational safety and health standards and all rules, regulations and orders pursuant to this Act, which are applicable to his own actions and conduct. Failure to know and live up to legal requirements has its own costs. In addition to fines, legal expenses, and lost work time dealing with regulatory agencies, there have even been cases where employers who blatantly disregarded employee safety have received jail sentences.

These legal requirements, and the penalties imposed for not meeting them, are likely to become more strict. As more is learned about the potential hazards in the workplace, there is more pressure to provide workers with the knowledge and skills necessary to protect themselves and others from risk.

Safety and the supervisor
As a supervisor, you don't set company policy, but you do have a major responsibility for carrying it out. You are on the scene, and you can see when workers are complying with safety procedures and when they are not.

As your employer's representative to the workers you supervise, you are the front line in an increasingly complex task: making sure workers are able to do their jobs in a way that promotes safety and minimizes risk. That is both a personal responsibility to the individuals in your group and, in many instances, a legal obligation under OSHA and other regulations.

There are many safety regulations and perhaps even more safety risks on the job. No matter how comprehensive your company's training programs, they are not enough to ensure worker safety. You are responsible for introducing new equipment, processes, procedures and substances to workers, as well as making sure they learn to use them correctly.

To become an automatic part of every worker's thinking and habits, safety has to be taught and reinforced on an ongoing basis, and that's where safety meetings come in.

Safety Meetings
Safety meetings provide opportunities to focus on specific hazards, operations and attitudes. They allow supervisors and safety professionals to select topics and formats which are geared to the needs of a particular group.

Safety meetings can be formal, preannounced group presentations using videos, expert speakers, and other planned aids. Or, they can be brief, informal one-on-one or small-group discussions and demonstrations which are designed to deal with problems or knowledge gaps that supervisors identify on the job.

Because supervisors are on the floor observing and directing operations, they are best able to determine the strengths and weaknesses of their operations and their workers. This knowledge, coupled with their own experience and responsibility for their units, makes supervisors the best choice to determine when safety meetings are needed.

TrainingOnline is a full-service learning content provider that specializes in Web-based training courses for the environmental, health, safety and human resources markets. Read more about safety training at www.trainingonline.com.

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