Having a full catalog of health and safety rules isn’t enough. They alone won’t help you cut down on workplace incidents. To do that, you need to build a strong safety culture and that means getting workers involved in health and safety as much as possible. Engagement is a fundamental building block of workplace health and safety and a key to creating a strong safety plan that reduces incidents.

But getting workers engaged in workplace health and safety is another matter. Ask any safety manager. He or she will tell you the same thing. It’s easy to stand up in front of a group of workers and tell them that you expect them to follow all the company’s safety rules and protocols. However, getting them to actively engage in your organization’s health and safety philosophy is a whole different matter. It takes a deliberate effort to do that.

The effort is worth it though; getting workers engaged pays. They’re critical sources of first-hand information so getting them engaged through safety meetings makes sense. More importantly, getting them engaged generates enormous benefits: It cuts down on costs, increases productivity. and boosts profitability, just to name a few. In short, getting workers engaged boosts a company’s competitiveness. These days, companies need all the help they can get.

Indications of Worker Engagement

So how can you tell if workers are engaged in health and safety? You’ll need to ask the right questions. Below are six questions you need to answer about safety at your company. Answering them will tell you if your workers are actively engaged in onsite health and safety.

Do your workers report unsafe onsite conditions?

Do your workers report workplace near-misses?

Do they provide input on safety and health conditions?

Do they have on-site stop-work authority?

Are they involved in safety and health planning?

Are they involved in job-hazard analyzes?

A recent study by Dodge Data & Analytics shows that 90 percent of respondents with strong occupational safety cultures answered all six questions in the affirmative. So, if your workers aren’t answering yes to these six questions, chances are you don’t have good enough worker engagement on health and safety.

Getting Workers to Own Health and Safety

Getting workers engaged in on-site health and safety is easier said than done. It takes a focused effort to get the job done, as was mentioned earlier. Below are several things you can do to spur worker engagement in health and safety at your company:

Ask for help — Workers can provide valuable insights. But if you wait for them to come to you about safety, you could be waiting awhile. Instead, ask them for help. Let them know what you’re doing and how they can help. Also, ask employees how they want to help. Maybe they’d like working on a committee. Maybe they’d like working with you one-on-one. Whatever it is, try to accommodate them.

Educate workers on safety — Workers don’t need to know as much about health and safety as safety managers. But the more they know, the better, so educate them. Sharing knowledge and putting things in context also helps. For example, point out what the recordable rate is and how it affects a company. Share reportable rates if you have strict standards. And talk to them about insurance rates and how they affect a company’s ability to land the area’s top projects.

Protect employees from reprisals — Employees need to know they can report a hazard without being penalized for doing so. Candor is a welcomed characteristic in employees, but they won’t speak up unless they feel comfortable doing so. If you show that honesty pays off, you’ll get more employees speaking up. Keep in mind also that the first time someone talks about a sensitive issue, other employees will be watching to see what happens.

Get workers involved in decisions — Getting workers input in things like safety rules, selecting PPE, and deciding on other safety issues is critical to developing a safety plan. Employees won’t hesitate to provide insights if their safety is at stake. Creating a safety action team is one way to do this. Make sure the team is led by a top manager in the company and a knowledgeable health and safety professional. And if you override a team decision, make sure you have a good reason and you explain it to employees.

Eliminate barriers to engagement — Always take things like education, language, and skill levels into consideration when trying to create involvement. It makes all employees feel that their voices count. Ensure that their concerns are always addressed. Provide safety training sessions. And conduct regular safety meetings. These things create avenues for employees input. Above all, don’t discriminate against employees for reporting issues.

Encourage workers to report hazards — Front line employees confront workplace safety hazards all the time so they can be a valuable source of first-hand information. But that only happens if they feel comfortable reporting incidents. Establish an easy process for reporting incidents and inform workers what action or actions were taken on issues. Encouraging workers to report hazards stops situations getting out of hand and creating more problems.

Encourage workers to report near misses — Encourage workers to report any and all near-misses that occur. Near-misses don’t leave much evidence of any occurrence so it’s easy to ignore them. But they’re critical to building a strong safety culture. Most times, though, there’s no evidence so companies will not act on them. Be sure to thank employees for reporting hazards, do something concrete to fix what caused the hazard if possible, and communicate what you’ve done.

These are just some of the things you can do to get workers actively engaged in onsite occupational health and safety. Many more activities are out there that can help. You just need to unearth them and pick the ones that fit your company’s needs.

Your efforts to getting workers engaged pays. It shows them you’re committed to boosting their occupational health, which goes a long way toward building a culture that cuts down on workplace mishaps, reduces compensation costs, and increases profitability. That, in turn, can help you increase safety in the workplace, reduce compensations costs, and boost profitability.