Looking to make your company a safer place to work? You’re in luck. Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) released their 2016 Safety Performance Report that revealed each of us has the power to make our company more than eight times safer than the industry average.
The report contains data drawn from participants of ABC’s 2015 Safety Training Evaluation Process (STEP). Companies are evaluated based on the correlation between the presence of six core safety practices—new- hire safety orientation, substance abuse programs, site-specific safety orientation, toolbox talks, near-miss/near-hit analysis and site-safety committees—and the company’s lagging indicator data as reported by OSHA’s Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses.
For example, companies with the highest participation in the mentioned best practices reduced their Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) by 86 percent compared to the industry average. The report also supports improving substance abuse programs, as they reduce a company’s Days Away and Restricted or Transferred rate (DART) by 55 percent as compared to companies with weak programs, and by 80 percent as compared to those with no program.
Another tip: take time to properly train all new hires. Why? Because companies with thorough new-hire safety orientations experience 55 percent fewer incidents.
Maintaining a strong safety record doesn’t just happen. It takes planning and a commitment to doing things right, right off the bat. But, this report shows that taking steps can and will make a difference.
Stay safe out there. And anytime Strong Man can help, we’ll be there.