By Travis Halsted, ARM, COSS

June is often a month of attending graduation open houses, weddings, spending time opening pools and just enjoying the warm weather. What few realize is that June is also National Safety Month. This month is meant for people to focus on how they can keep their environment safe and free from unsafe and unhealthy conditions. This can include your home, social and/or work environments.

During many of my recent visits with policyholders, I have heard quite a few fantastic ideas on how companies are not only using National Safety Month as a way to catch up on trainings, but also as a chance to celebrate their workplace health and safety accomplishments. While many of the topics are serious in nature, and vital to learn, nothing says that we cannot make these learning opportunities fun.

Many of the companies that I have spoken with have created trivia questions centered around health and safety that employees can answer for prizes. This would include questions pertaining to injury prevention, safety programs, musculoskeletal disorders, and even topic specific items like slips, trips, and falls. Another fun aspect of this month can include a scavenger hunt for employees that can include a picture of a hazard that can be remedied, a safe act by another employee, and/or idea of ways to improve ergonomics in the workplace.

Finally, a few of the companies are planning a safety party for the end of the month. This party will be a centered around a lunch and learn format. This lunch and learn focuses on a lunch for employees that teaches them behavior-based safety items. By keeping the training items small and quick employees have a greater chance of staying engaged and comprehending them while enjoying the atmosphere. Some companies plan on even making t-shirts for their safety party. This event can also assist in getting employees to sign up for the safety committee. I highly recommend having employees sign a training documentation sheet for ANY and ALL trainings that you complete. Documentation is paramount.

While the fun aspect will encourage employee involvement, it is important to also strengthen the management commitment to employees during this time. A letter to all employees with a handwritten signature from upper management can provide employees with the security that their leaders take health and safety seriously during this month and every other as well. Management can utilize this month to strengthen the relationship between employees and supervision. By management having “walk and talks” and town hall meetings with employees to ask them about health and safety hazards, employees feel like they are part of the process and may be more likely to “buy-in”. This may also lead to employees taking ownership of their own safety as well as the safety of their fellow employees. Finally, management can take this month as an opportunity to introduce new pieces of equipment, ideas that were implemented, and just improvements that have been completed. Employees will often provide the perception that they do not pay attention to items like that, but they do.

June brings us to the half point of 2022. Many of us spend time looking back at the prior months and the injuries that happened in the workplace. This is an important lagging metric but let us also look at the leading metrics of the rest of the year. This is a wonderful time to finish the safety program that has been on your desk for some time and train the employees on that program. This is a wonderful time to install the guarding that has been missing, or to purchase the eyewash station that is needed for a particular area in your facility. This month can turn your year of claims around.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to your Loss Control Consultant with any question on how to make some immediate health and safety changes. We can review your prior reports, or conduct a safety visit and assist you in identifying some quick ways to make some improvements directly from that. By abating even, the smallest item from our reports makes it a safer workplace! If you are looking to have several small training opportunities, or a month of trainings on different topics, the MTMIC Client Portal is a great place to gather some information for those trainings. If you do not have access to the portal, please reach out to Patty Allen at sales@mtmic.com and she can assist you in gaining access to those documents. I hope everyone stays safe and has a fantastic summer!