Virtually all large North American corporations have safety policies. They hang them on the walls of their corporate offices. They include them in their employee handbooks. But if this is as far as their safety efforts go, these companies are missing out on everything a safety policy can provide.
That's because to have any relevant meaning, health, safety and environmental (HSE) values cannot remain mere words written on a page; they must be internalized by employees and translated into performance. That can take a great deal of work. However, the efforts are worth it.
Effective, internalized safety efforts reduce injuries and incidents; assist in the attainment of a sustainable world-class safety culture; lower Worker's Compensation, insurance and lost workday case costs; lessen the likelihood of damaging the environment; and reduce the possibility of legal liabilities. Plus, an improved safety performance actually leads to increased productivity and profitability. For anyone who doubts the truth of this final point, consider these statistics:
Table 1. The National Safety Council Statistics provide a guideline for determining the average costs of injuries/incidents (available in full paper).
According to the NSC statistics for 1998, each Lost Workday Case (LWC) costs a company an average of $34,000 (U.S.). Each recordable injury averages $10,000 (U.S.) in costs. And lost days per incident cost an average of $1,600 (U.S.). When these statistics are taken into account, it becomes obvious that translating health, safety and environmental values into performance can, in fact, result in a "competitive edge" in today's marketplace. Quite simply, establishing a safety culture - and ensuring that employees internalize the culture's values - doesn't just make good sense; it makes good business sense. Therefore, it is incumbent upon every company to firmly establish a safety culture and make a concerted effort to convey the value the company places on safety. But how can management accomplish this?
In 1994, the Oil Industry International Exploration and Production (E&;P) Forum, the international association of oil companies and petroleum industry organizations, published its Guidelines for the Development and Application of Health, Safety and Environmental Management Systems. In these Guidelines, there are seven basic elements for setting and implementing company policy and objectives on health, safety and the environment. The first of these elements is Leadership and Commitment.
According to the Guidelines, "Senior management of a company should provide strong, visible leadership and commitment, and ensure that this commitment is translated into the necessary resources, to develop, operate and maintain the HSEMS [health, safety and environmental management system] and to attain the policy and strategic objectives. Management should ensure that full account is taken of the HSE policy requirements and should provide support for local actions taken to protect health, safety and the environment."
