Most authorities agree that at least 95 percent of workplace injuries are easily preventable. To achieve zero OSHA-recordable injuries, one tool companies use is a periodic employee safety-perception survey.
Construction Industry Institute research has found that companies are more likely to achieve zero injury when owners and project managers lead the safety program and make it part of every work plan.
Opinions count
Too often, companies wait until an accident exposes the weaknesses of their safety efforts. One way to prevent accidents is to develop an employee safety-perception survey. These surveys can be powerful because employees often know better than management about safe and unsafe conditions on work sites. Often, they won’t bring the issues up – unless they are asked.
Beyond providing valuable information, such a survey can be a powerful psychological tool, helping to win employees’ cooperation and devotion. Workers usually feel honored when asked for their opinions because it signifies their value.
Carefully worded questions will reveal safety program deficiencies or breakdowns in communication. Emmitt J. Nelson, president of Nelson Consulting Inc. in Houston, suggests framing questions so that employees can respond easily, without having to write long sentences.
He suggests asking yes/no/don’t know questions, such as:
• Does the company president review safety performance monthly?
• Are company injury incidence rates discussed monthly?
• Have company leaders set zero injury as their expectation?
• Are company leaders involved in injury investigations?
• Do safety representatives report to company leaders?
• Does each project have site-specific safety plan documentation?
• Is a hazard analysis performed before major work begins?
• Are funds placed in project budgets for safety training?
• Do all receive classroom safety orientation before work begins?
• Do superintendents and managers receive safety training?
Also effective are statements that employees assign ratings to on a scale from one (poor) to ten (world-class) for various safety program attributes, such as:
• The degree of interest in safety shown by top leaders while at the jobsite.
• Strength of leaders’ support for achieving zero injury.
• Quality of leaders’ involvement in injury investigations.
• Comfort in stopping a job for safety reasons.
• Effectiveness of safety staff.
• Quality of jobsite-specific safety plans.
• Quality of daily safety inspections.
• Quality of company safety training.
• Effectiveness of safety communication.
• Faithfulness of employees in reporting first-aid cases.
• Quality of injury investigations.
• Encouragement given for near-miss reporting.
• Quality of safety recognition.
Once employees offer their perceptions, you have an obligation to respond within days. “Waiting weeks to give feedback undermines the positive aspects of conducting the survey, as employees become skeptical of what is going on, or perhaps not going on,” says Nelson.
“The more honest you are in reporting the feedback, especially when it is critical of leadership, the more productive the survey,” he says. “Take action immediately to correct negative responses and employee misunderstandings.”
Nelson emphasizes that employees will give usable information only if they do not fear reprisal. Assure them that their answers will be confidential and anonymous.
Their perceptions then will provide a revealing look at how well you are communicating your safety objectives, and the quality of safety efforts on projects. Use the surveys to shore up your emphasis on safety. By quickly correcting misconceptions and mismanagement of safety details, you can create a zero-injury work culture.
Emmitt J. Nelson can be reached at nelsonci@worldnet.att.net or 713/953-1228.
