The role of HR in safety and compliance is critical to the overall success of a business. By ensuring that all employees are properly trained in safety protocols and understand their responsibilities when it comes to compliance, HR can help create a safe and productive work environment. In this blog post, we will discuss the role of HR in safety and compliance, as well as some best practices for ensuring a successful program.
When it comes to safety and compliance, training is one of the most important aspects of HR’s role. By providing employees with the knowledge and skills they need to stay safe on the job, HR can help reduce the risk of accidents and injuries. Furthermore, compliance training can help employees understand their responsibilities when it comes to following safety protocols and procedures. By ensuring that all employees are properly trained, HR can play a vital role in keeping the workplace safe.
In addition to training, another important aspect of HR’s role in safety and compliance is enforcing policies and procedures. By making sure that all employees are following the rules, HR can help create a safe and compliant work environment. Enforcing policies and procedures can help prevent accidents and injuries by ensuring that employees are following the proper safety protocols.
The Five Essentials Every HR Professional Should Know
- Administrative “Must Haves” like signage and logs
- Set Policies
- Effective Training
- Procedures for Risk Tracking
- Contingencies for Reinforcing Behavior
Administrative “Must Haves”
The HR department is responsible for ensuring that the company abides by all regulations. This includes appropriate signage, logging your employees’ exposure to hazards on an annual basis through a form called 300 A-Logs (which stands for “Annual Log”), as well as Safety Data Sheets (SDS), which are sheets made available containing information about how dangerous certain tasks might be if performed incorrectly or without protection.
Policies
Health and safety are hot topics in today’s world. Many people are aware of the laws surrounding documentation, but many HR professionals do not know which ones apply to them or their company specifically. The best way for an employer to stay compliant with all possible regulations is by having written policies that address specific hazards they may face on any given job site – this ensures there won’t ever come confusion about what constitutes safe practices when working in-person or remotely!
Training
HR professionals must ensure that any employee training programs being purchased, developed, or used do indeed cover everything regulators require for a particular subject. Just as there are specific written policies and procedures required by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), so too does this apply to all types of company-regulated learning material—which can include anything from eBooks on hazards faced at your workplace site right down to classroom instruction itself!
Some of the topics in which training is required can be found at LBA University, like:
- RF Safety
- OSHA 10 & 30 Hour
- Electrical Safety
- Environmental Management
- Occupational Health & Safety
- Human Resources
Risk Tracking
HR professionals are in the best position to help protect employees by tracking risk. In fact, it’s their job! They can collaborate with health and safety team members when needed for audits or inspections that will ensure all workplace hazards have been identified so nobody gets hurt on their watch.
Doing this well requires an understanding of what is considered best safety practice and how these standards may change over time depending upon industry trends – this means keeping up-to-date isn’t just essential; it makes good business sense too.
Reinforcing Behavior
Employers must always ensure that their workplace policies are enforced in order to maintain a safe and compliant work environment. For instance, we all likely have an existing tardiness policy for employees who miss time on the job. It makes sense then that policy exists when considering health & safety practices as well!
We all want to protect our new employees, which is why it’s so important for them to be trained and aware of safety policies before they start working. New hires must also receive training on how your company operates as soon as possible after starting their new job – even if that means providing more than one presentation or going over material again at different intervals during the week until everything sinks in!
In order to change/maintain a safe culture in an organization, it is important that we have a plan in place. One way this can be done effectively and without much hassle is by implementing computerized systems that keep a record of who has been trained/retrained, when the training occurred, and on what topics. In this manner, there should be no guesswork involved regarding future training needs or potential hazards for employees working under these new conditions.
So, ask yourself, do you have the right tools and resources in place for your employees?
By implementing the best tools and practices available you may not be the most popular HR Manager, but you will be able to sleep at night knowing you are keeping your employees safe.
LBA University is here to partner with you. We offer a variety of safety and compliance online training courses that can help your employees stay safe on the job. Our program is designed to be flexible and customizable to fit your specific needs. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you create a safe and compliant workplace.