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Improving the Health and Safety of Your Small Business

Written by: Stephen Parezo

Article Overview: Despite workplace fatalities and injuries now at an all-time low, health and safety experts contend that the majority of small businesses still face significant problems in these areas.

Improving the Health and Safety of Your Small Business

Despite workplace fatalities and injuries now at an all-time low, health and safety experts contend that the majority of small businesses still face significant problems in these areas. Industry officials admit they shoulder some of the blame for the current state of affairs.

“Safety and health professionals have not done a good job in demonstrating to small businesses why safety and health is good for business,” said Del Sandfort, manager of the Occupational Health and Safety Consultation (OHSC) in Fort Collins, CO, that’s funded by the U.S. Department of Labor with consultation services provided by Colorado State University.

Sandfort, who has 26 years of industry experience, maintains that safety professionals have tried to cram safety and health down business owners’ throats, by saying that “it’s the law” and “it’s the right thing to do.”

“Business owners don’t go into business to enforce health and safety laws,” he said. “We are just now recognizing that there truly is a positive business aspect to health and safety management. We are learning how to help small businesses manage their health and safety situations and incorporate that into their management plans.”

It’s no mystery to Jim Smith why small businesses can’t seem to get their health and safety act together. As managing director of Southeast region risk control services for Arthur Gallagher Risk Management Services in Boca Raton, FL, he noted that small businesses don’t provide the training and don’t have professional staff available to work on these areas.

“Unless you have a good owner who’s running the safety program who has workplace protection, it’s generally going to fall by the wayside,” said Smith, a 23-year risk industry veteran.

Yet many small businesses don’t have formal safety procedures and practices in place on the job. These companies rely heavily on the owner to set the pace in terms of safety because it’s not a high priority area so if the owner gives it the short shrift the workers and the business will suffer.

A tough nut to crack

“The tragedy is if it’s done right [health and safety procedures], you can incorporate it into your business practice,” he said. “If you’re bidding jobs or services you can build it into your pricing structure.”

One key reason why small business owners haven’t fully embraced the merits of a quality health and safety program is because they haven’t learned how to manage these issues the way they manage business issues.

“Before they learn how to manage health and safety issues they need to know why it’s important,” OHSC’s Sandfort said. “We’re still kind of treading water getting the message across. It’s a tough nut to crack. Most people don’t understand why safety and health is a good thing for their business.”

Arthur Gallagher’s Smith believes the way to stem this tide with small business owners is to implement aggressive outreach programs.

“I don’t think regulatory issues are the answer,” he said. “We’ve got to change the mindset of the small business owner and give them really good, effective tools to use to be able to be successful. We’ve got to be able to share the success and tragic stories with them.”

Having been on agencies with regulatory developers, Smith knows it’s tough to write a standard that applies to everybody across the board.

“Either you miss something or you create something so burdensome,” he said. “Programs such as OSHA’s outreach, those are the things we’ve got to really stress.”

At Colorado State, Sandfort says experts preach the health and safety gospel before trade associations, public forums, local safety conferences and small business meetings. When a particular group cites its success, it can really start the ball rolling.

Slow road to progress

“A trade association where one business has been successful demonstrates that success is really a valuable tool and that it can work for them,” he said.

What’s ironic about small business health and safety issues is that having a lack of resources or staff is not a valid excuse since there are programs and websites available such as www.osha.org and www.safetyonline.com that offer free help and information to help companies foster improvement.

Small business owners should contact the consultation program in their state to ask for assistance which usually comes in three forms. First, the employer can ask for a hazard identification visit to learn what violations they might have. Next, a business can request a review of its safety and health management system where consultants review their safety and health hazards. Lastly is implementing training in these areas.

Fiducial franchisee Sam Smith of Middletown, MD, indicated that several of his large construction clients were flagged for safety violations so they brought in OSHA approved experts to conduct training seminars for their workers. These sessions could prove to be life-savers especially since companies doing large-scale commercial projects often take on risky tasks such as caulking between sections of glass in high-rise buildings some 50 stories up.

OHSC’s Sandfort finds it gratifying to see the progress made by some small businesses after assessments were made on their health and safety environment. Nothing is more satisfying for him than to visit with clients then follow up with them a year or two later and find that their business was directly affected by positive improvements made in their operations without spending money on injury and illness.

“Our whole program is about helping business,” he said. “Our service costs nothing, it’s absolutely free. It makes sense to me.”

Safety impacts the bottom line

Dale Ellery, district manager of Fiducial’s Detroit, MI, region, doubts whether most small business owners are actually doing enough for the health and safety of their employees.

“We never think anything can go wrong but it does,” said Ellery. “You should have proper lighting because it’s getting dark earlier these days.” You also need to have proper security systems in case somebody breaks in.”

Ellery speaks from experience because early on in his career, his business was broken into which taught him a valuable lesson.

“As soon as that happened I knew we had better get a security system,” he said. “Now we have lots of lighting, tall lamps and a security system. We have panic buttons in four locations in the building to call the police. The building also has television monitors to see who’s at the front and back doors.”

Fiducial’s Smith ensures the well-being of his business with a security system that includes motion detectors in his office building. Going paperless also helped improve the safety environment for his employees.

“We don’t have to worry about any large file cabinets tipping over and there are no heavy files to be lifted,” said Smith.

Having a safer working environment can also pay off as far as the bottom line is concerned.

Some businesses have found they could save as much as $50,000 to $100,000 by eliminating hazards from their workplace. OSHA nationally recognizes those businesses that have excelled through its Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP).

“We clearly have shown that by reducing injury, illness and hazards, compensation costs go down so the business saves money which they can reinvest in their operation,” Sandfort said. “It’s a slow road but we’re making progress.”

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