What are the 5 elements of Safety? Hint: They all start with an E.

Developing and sustaining a strong health and safety culture in your organization must be a number one goal for all businesses. At the end of the day, the workers are the key to organizational success, and their lives and well-being should never be taken for granted. 

Whether you are developing HSMS, conducting a safety awareness workshop, or redesigning a general safety program, you must consider the 5 components of workplace safety: Education, Encouragement, Engineering, Enforcement and Evaluation. 

Let’s break down each of these safety elements one by one.

Education

Enhancing the safety culture of your organization, even with a successful HSMS developed by top-tier safety consultants, will never be achieved without educating your employees on worksite hazards and their control measures. Education provides your workers with the knowledge of the required safe work practices and improves risk management skills that go beyond basic human instincts. 

Encouragement 

By definition, encouragement is words or behavior that give someone confidence to do something. The goal here is to build  your workers’ confidence and enthusiasm to actively participate in the safety culture of your organization without the need to force anybody to read every page of the OHS program you have developed.

Engineering 

The making of successful OHS policies and procedures is the “engineering” element of safety. Here, the quality of the work produced is a priority. “Engineering Safety” involves careful design, development, analysis, implementation, and maintenance of the new safety measures being rolled out. 

Enforcement 

Compelling your workers to obey your safety protocols is not the easiest of tasks, especially when your safety precautions require time commitment that was not accounted for by the workers. Properly engineered training that not only educates, but also encourages your employees to follow your guidelines must be in place to ensure workers’ understanding that their safety is in their hands. Taking the extra time will often result in “life” in a life-and-death scenario. 

Evaluation

Regular safety audits and staying up-to-date with the current safety standards are a must. Sustaining a positive safety culture requires constant evaluation and improvement, therefore it’s important to schedule a semi-annual or an annual review of the implemented safety practices and procedures. 

The Es of Safety must not be taken lightly. And Don’t Forget: 

“Shortcuts cut life short”