The safest and most productive manufacturers are those that ensure safety is an integral part of their team’s daily activities. Enforcing factory safety rules might be tricky but the main challenge is ensuring your team follow them. Perhaps some (or all) of your workers aren’t taking safety as seriously as they should. Here’s why and how you can fix the problems.
1. Help! My Team isn’t Taking Safety Rules Seriously
2. Why Might My Team Not be Taking Safety Seriously and How Can I Fix it?
3. Because Your Team Doesn’t Understand the Importance of Safety
Help! My Team isn’t Taking Safety Rules Seriously
Factories are hazardous workplaces. From machinery and high noise levels to toxic chemicals and slippery floors, there are many accidents waiting to happen if safety isn’t at the forefront of your team’s mind. If there’s an accident, it’s not just injuries and potential fatalities you may have to deal with. For example, there can be:
- Team members having to take days off due to injuries.
- Factory needing to be closed (if the accident was particularly serious and affected the workplace on a large scale).
- Loss of productivity.
- Negative impact on business reputation.
- Reduced team morale
That’s why you need to ensure your entire team is taking safety seriously at all times. But in order to fix this, you need to find why they might be being lax.
Why Might My Team Not be Taking Safety Seriously and How Can I Fix it?
The Safety Rules are Too Complex
Safety rules and regulations can be complicated. There are usually so many different clauses and exceptions, it can be hard to translate them into layman’s terms for your team to understand. But if they’re too complex, that can deter your workers from following them.
How to Fix This
Outline safety rules as simply as possible without losing the key messages. Put yourself in your workers’ shoes and imagine how they’d read and process these rules.
The Safety Rules are a Hindrance
Complicated safety rules aren’t just confusing. They can also be a hindrance. If they get in the way of your team’s normal working tasks, they might look for shortcuts or skip the rules altogether.
After all, what could possibly go wrong?
How to Fix This
In addition to simplifying the safety rules, consider breaking long and complex procedures into more manageable chunks that don’t take up too much of your team’s time. Remember, an overly long procedure potentially means decreased productivity for your factory. However, you still want to ensure safety so it’s vital that you find the appropriate balance.
You should also teach your team the importance of safety...
Because Your Team Doesn’t Understand the Importance of Safety
What’s the difference between a team that follows safety protocol but doesn’t understand why and a team that follows protocol but does understand why? The latter will always follow the safety rules no matter what, because they understand the importance of safety in the workplace.
How to Fix This
Organise regular team meetings to ensure that your team is aware of why safety is so important. From team safety exercises to talking to individual workers one-on-one, this can help keep safety at the forefront of your team’s minds. Plus, the team exercises can help unify your team and show them how to work together to stay safe. After all, maintaining safety at work is a team task, not just an individual responsibility.
If your team doesn’t understand why safety is key, they won’t see the point of safety rules and ultimately, they’ll be less driven to follow them. That’s why you need to teach them to see why it’s important as well as how to implement it in the workplace.
Final Note: Here’s Why Safety is So Important
It’s important to maintain safety in any workplace, whether it’s a factory or a restaurant kitchen. A team that works in a safe environment can do so more productively, effectively and happily. And that’s good news for you.
The Right Footwear is a Vital Part of Ensuring Safety in the Workplace
In addition to teaching your team the importance of safety and how to implement it in the workplace, you also need to ensure they’re wearing the right footwear. Slip-resistant safety shoes will protect your workers from a variety of occupational hazards such as slips and trips, falling heavy objects and more.
Choosing the right shoe for your workplace is vital because different teams face different hazards. See our latest catalogue that has our latest range of safety footwear. Download it below.