Hr Practices for Safety
“Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands.” This quote is the perfect quote to start this paper off with. Safety is definitely something that you dont just do, its something that needs to be learned, something that not just anyone can enforce, and it is quite possibly the most important part of managements job. Without safety there would be many problems, injuries, deaths, lawsuits, etc. Nothing that any manager wants to encounter at their job, so safety needs to be enforced daily. Every employee must go through the proper training and help to make sure everyone is safe and enjoying themselves at the same time. Safety is not a burden, its a necessity and without safety there would not be any fun had. Without safety there would be no peace of mind for workers or visitors. There would be utter chaos if safety wasnt practiced.
Before getting into guidelines and practices for safety in the parks and recreation environment I want to go over general safety training and practices that all places of employment are required to partake in. A good way to present these trainings is to have a discussion and training session on safety in the workplace. This helps all new employees know about the different hazards that can be present, some they may not have necessarily thought of. This lets them learn a little bit more about their profession while at the same time knowing some risks that come with it.
First you have hazardous wastes. One of the biggest concerns for personal safety is the handling and disposal of hazardous wastes. Hazardous wastes can be the obvious gas/propane or something you may not necessarily think of like cleaning supplies. In addition to the mandated training try to make it a little fun by asking the employees to name some hazardous wastes, make it into a game. By guessing this helps them to think a little bit and learn about the hazards they may come in contact with. Also tell them who to notify if contact with a hazardous waste occurred, how to handle the situation, and how to prevent possible harm to the public.
The second required safety training is slip and fall safety. Many workplace accidents are simple slip and fall situations that could easily have been prevented. Dangers in this area can occur in almost any workplace, from quiet offices to noisy power plants. Ask your trainees to give examples of what could occur at the workplace to create a slip and fall situation and how to prevent them from happening. Give facts on how often it happens and what medical costs and productivity can be lost due to a very preventable slip and fall.
Personal safety is another topic that must be discussed. Sometimes, safety issues in the workplace stem from the actions of other people, not just the physical aspects of the job. Explain and give examples of some personal safety issues that are simply not tolerated at work and what to do if they happened. These issues include sexual harassment, racially negative comments, theft, crime, etc. Sexual harassment and crime and theft are two situations in which dangers in the workplace may come at the hand of employees, including supervisors, or other individuals. Ask the trainees to give examples of what they would do in these situations to maintain personal safety and that of other workers. On your part as a manager let the employees know the policies that are in place to prevent sexual harassment. Also make sure they know to walk to their cars together at the end of the night to prevent this and other violent acts that could occur, like muggings.
Lastly, environmental safety is another training measure that all employers must inform their employees of. The importance of environmental safety has definitely gone up in recent years, when it comes to workplace safety dangers. Again ask your trainees to come up with some various ways that workplaces contribute towards environmental pollution, and things they can do to reduce their carbon footprint, as well as other negative effects on a global scale. This can be as simple as increasing recycling efforts, or as involved as determining how to utilize alternative energy sources on the job.
Management should have an employee training guide on hand that goes over necessary training topics and what to do if hazards arise. Also there should be a checklist that each trainee must follow with the trainer and have signed off and saved in their file and kept so that there is proof that the proper safety training was presented. The purpose of the management training guide is to assist managers in completing the mangers checklist for employee safety training. All places of employment are requires to have a safety plan on hand if they use chemicals and other physical hazards in the workplace. Another good thing about the safety plan is that you can use it to provide the training.
Examples of what should be included in the safety training guide/safety plan are: 1) Reporting of medical, fire, or safety emergencies, 2) Accident reporting procedures, 3) Basic building alarms, employee response to alarms, evacuation procedures, and fire extinguisher use, 5) General hazard communication and chemical hygiene plan training requirements (lockout/tag out/electrical safety, if applicable), 6) Ergonomics and safety work procedures (ex. Proper lifting), 7) Identification of hazardous materials, 8) Potential emergencies specific to the work area, alarms, response to alarms, 9) Personal protective equipment to be used in the workplace, 10) Response for unknown materials, 11) Blood borne pathogens, 11) Biological hazards and hazardous equipment, and 13) Animal contact. These should all be included in the training guide/ safety plan so employees know what to do if any of the above situations were to occur. After going through this training have the employee sign and date the checklist created and put it into their file.
There are five steps that all managers must follow in training employees about the aforementioned safety topics and the job specific safety topics. First, survey your workplace for safety concerns in order to present relevant training exercises. While all businesses should provide general safety training as mentioned earlier, other instruction will need to be job specific. Second, create a safety committee or appoint a safety awareness officer. This person or committee can be responsible for reporting hazardous work conditions, providing training for new employees, and making sure that all appropriate workplace safety posters and safety sheets are displayed in prominent and visible places. Third, check government regulations about the frequency and type of training you are required to provide to all employees. The U.S. Departments of labor has set guidelines for workplace safety training that must be provided by organizations that employ a certain number of people. Fourth, invest in a series of workplace safety training materials, such as workbooks and DVDs. Its helpful and cost efficient to have training that needs to be provided to all new employees, and on an annual basis, on hand. This also saves the cost of hiring an outside consultant every time. Many recorded training can also be self-led, saving your time. Last and most important, document training and retain training records. All workplaces are subject to audits and reviews and by law records including the trainers name, the date, the training topics, and a list of who attended must be kept on file for a minimum of three years.
I cannot stress the importance of documentation enough. As a manager you should document everything. It saves you from running into a problem in the future. This also prevents the staff member from saying at a later time that they were not made aware of the hazard. If you document then you will have proof that you did in fact train them.
While researching online I found a really good example of the paperwork that should be filled out before a new hire is allowed to begin working and after they have been properly trained. I did a little tweaking to it and wanted to share it with you.
MANAGERS CHECKLIST FOR EMPLOYEE SAFETY TRAINING
This form must be completed and reviewed with all new employees by their manager on the first day of work, prior to the commencement of work activities. A new employee is an employee who is a new hire, transfer into park/facility from another agency.
This form must be signed by the supervisor and the employee and placed in their file immediately after completion. In addition, please provide one copy of this form to the employee.
Use the Safety Plan and the Safety and Health Manual as the basis for your discussion. After each element has been discussed and understood by the new employee, check the corresponding block on this form.
The following information must be covered with all new employees by their supervisor.
Use the training guide as needed to assist you with this training, and then check the box
•?Reporting procedures for medical, fire, or safety emergencies
•?Accident reporting procedures
•?Building alarms, employee response to alarms, fire extinguishers, evacuation procedures
•?General Hazard Communication
•?Ergonomics and safe work procedures
•?Lockout / Tag out / Electrical Safety
For persons who work with or around chemicals, biological hazards (including