Whether you are starting a new business, expanding your business, or simply trying to update an outdated safety plan, setting your safety goals can be a difficult task. We all want to say that our goal is 100% OSHA compliance with every possible safety certificate, no onsite injuries, and around the clock safety management. Unfortunately, that goal is a bit lofty for year one of a new Safety and Health Management System.
If your goals are unattainable, the real growth that your company shows in relation to safety will be lost to you, as you have not met unrealistic goals. You need to put yourself in a place where you are reaching for difficult, but attainable, goals. If your goals are too easy, you run the opposite risk of goals that are too difficult – you will feel overconfident that you reached your goals, and that can affect the long term value of your goals.
Finding that balance, however, can be very difficult. Utilizing the expertise of a third party safety auditor can be a great starting point, however many third party safety auditors will only audit your safety plan, not help you determine their efficacy. This can leave your results skewed if your safety goals are too aggressive or not aggressive enough. So relying on your annual audit to take care of your safety plan and safety goals can leave you in a terrible situation.
Instead, you need to have a serious conversation with your safety and management teams, discussing the real threats to the safety of your business, as well as what is and is not currently working. That information needs to be compared to OSHA’s regulations regarding your business and the relevant third party safety certificates available. Then, you need to determine how much you can take care of this year, and how much you need to hold off on, making sure you meet and maintain all OSHA standards in the process.
If this sounds like a difficult task, that’s because it is. But don’t worry, it is achievable. And if you need any help in setting your safety goals, please contact us to help you. If you have any other tips for setting a safety goal please leave a comment.
