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How do you get to the point where your entire company holds safety as a high priority? One critical step is to work on developing safety “champions” throughout your organization instead of focusing safety training only on top management.

“Safety needs to be one of the first thoughts on everybody’s mind when approaching any task,” says David Snodgrass, CLP, president of Dennis’ Seven Dees Landscaping in Portland, Oregon, and chair of PLANET’s Safety/Insurance Committee. “People have been conditioned to think about quality and efficiency first, and safety is down on the list. But safety should be given the same high priority of importance when they approach any project,” he says.

At Dennis’ Seven Dees, safety is discussed at every meeting. “For example,” Snodgrass says, “I was at a commercial supervisors’ meeting, and safety, as expected, was on the agenda. That led to a discussion about job-site safety. Promoting safety used to come mostly from top management, but now many others throughout our company carry that message. It is very rewarding to see that safety has taken on a life of its own.”

Everyone at the company also starts out his or her day with morning “stretching” exercises. Not only do the employees physically stretch, but they also participate in a discussion of a safety topic. “We rotate through our staff so that each day a different person leads the exercises, which keeps everyone involved,” Snodgrass says.

Dennis’ Seven Dees also has an active Safety Committee. The chair of the committee rotates every two years. “This way we develop many safety champions who mix throughout the company,” Snodgrass says, “This also ensures there is fresh energy and new ideas coming from the committee.

“In smaller companies,” he continues, “it is common that the owner is also the safety chairperson, but, ideally, it will be someone else. That person’s passion for safety needs to transfer through the rest of the company. This is most effectively accomplished by someone in an employee position. If you choose a chairperson who is passionate (about safety), that person will involve others.”

Getting There

Snodgrass believes that developing safety “champions” is not likely to happen unless the owner of the company is passionate about safety himself.

“The only chance you have at making safety important to others in your company is by making it important to you,” he says. “Check yourself out. This is what (PLANET’S) STARS Safe Company Program is all about –– saying that ‘I’m not doing enough. I could do more. And I will do more for all of the right reasons.’ The most important reason is because you don’t want to have that accident –– you don’t want your employees to get hurt.”

In addition to the steps already mentioned, here is more on what Dennis’ Seven Dees Landscaping recommends to keep safety in the forefront of all of its employees’ minds:

• Post signs in both English and Spanish indicating the number of days the company has gone without a lost-time incident. Score is kept, and the number is changed daily. The company’s previous record is included.
• Post safety reminders at the gate (such as “Lights on” or “Buckle up”).
• Have employees file incident reports on every accident, regardless of the cost. The person involved in the accident shares what happened with other employees, and discussion takes place on how to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future.

The safety program at Dennis’ Seven Dees Landscaping includes numerous other components that help drive the safety message through the company every day. “The ultimate goal of a safety program is to create a safety culture where people think ‘quality,’ ‘efficiency,’ ‘safety’ at the same time –– it’s where safety becomes a lifestyle, not an ‘at work’ thing,” Snodgrass says.

7/05

By Barbara Mulhern, PLANET Safety Specialist