Released on: May 4, 2008, 6:34 pm

Press Release Author: Brent Bowlin

Industry: Small Business

Press Release Summary: Small businesses that have a voluntary health and safety
program in place have fifty percent less accidents and reported insurance claims
than that of their counterparts according to OHSA stats.

Press Release Body:

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Small Business and the Health and Safety Plan

Small businesses that have a voluntary health and safety program in place have fifty
percent less accidents and reported insurance claims than that of their counterparts
according to OHSA stats. Most small businesses fall below the legal requirements for
having a formal health and safety program in place due to number of employees on
staff. Sixty eight percent of reported accidents are in the service industry which
shows even businesses such as retail establishments are not free of accidents.

Setting a health and safety program in place will reduce costs. Having a program
will reduce accidents and will lead to lower company worker's comp premiums; further
business insurance companies prefer their customers to have health and safety
programs. These insurance companies might even discount the premium if a program can
be proved to exist. The average cost of an accident is $68,000. Direct costs in
accidents such as worker's comp and fines levied can close a business. Indirect
costs such as low morale of employees, legal fees, and retraining can be as costly
if not more.

A working program will:
1) Improve employee morale - Shows care in their well being
2) Reduce revenue loses - Fewer accidents keeps all employees at work
3) Give a boost to the customer - Makes sure business is operating optimally

A health and safety program can be started by writing a health and safety policy;
this is simply values that a company wishes to convey in its work processes.
Secondly, is how communication between all employees and owners will function. And
lastly, put procedures in place to ensure safe practices.

To find unseen hazards and unsafe practices, an audit needs to take place. Take a
hard look at the workplace and record all factors that may lead to injury. These
hazards might be dangerous chemicals or as simple as a letter opener. Identifying
these hazards will lead to procedures to controlling them. Few office personnel
realize that they are twice as likely to be injured in a fall as non-office
personnel. Controls such as "Don't run with scissors in your hands" are effective.
Write all procedures in a manual.

Implementing these health and safety procedures will be done with behavioral change.
Some programs become weak and non effective because of:
1) No definition of safety practices - No written processes
2) No teamwork - Safety is communication from the top to bottom and vice versa. A
well written plan will describe what roles everyone plays in safety policies.
3) No effective goals - The "accident free days" poster will come as a result of
sound safety processes.
4) Wrong incentives - Money as a reward does not work well. Health and safety should
be fun and worth employees effort. The right incentive plan can be cost effective
and have obtainable goals. Incentive plans can include movie passes or simply "free
coffee on the boss." The insurance industry reports for a dollar spent on health and
safety yields four to six dollars in savings.

Once all of the hard work of developing and implementing the health and safety
program is done, set aside some time each month to review the workplace. Record what
is found; this is a good practice to see dangerous trends that might occur such as a
fire exit constantly being blocked. On the quarters of the year post a meeting with
employees. These meetings are a great way to get vital feed-back from employees and
keep them involved. At least once a year, do an audit to make sure your health and
safety program is current with present business operations.

Starting a health and safety program can be easily started with an editable program
manual from ABB Safety Net. It is available from Safety Supplies Canada at
www.safetysuppliescanada.com. The manual comes with six months of help to implement
the program; the service is also renewable.




Contact Information:
Brent Bowlin
abbsafetynet@gmail.com


Web Site: http://

Contact Details: abbsafetynet@gmail.com
416.276.0017