The approach to human resources on your dairy plays a big role in workplace culture.
In short, workplace culture is the overall environment, attitudes, beliefs and acceptable behaviours that make up the normal way of doing things on your farm. It includes shared practices, attitudes and perceptions that influence behaviour. Workplace culture is influenced by many things, including leadership, management and supervision styles and priorities, peer pressure, workplace conditions, and design and production logistics.
How does workplace culture relate to safety?
If most managers, supervisors and employees on your dairy have a positive attitude toward health and safety and make safety a priority, this demonstrates a positive safety culture. If employee safety is not a priority, hazards are not addressed and safety procedures are not followed on a regular basis, it creates a negative safety culture.
Human resource management is instrumental in creating a safe work environment and proactive, preventive culture. Part of a positive approach to human resources is actively promoting a positive work environment that values employee health and safety. Managers must foster open communication, encourage employees to report safety concerns, near-misses or accidents without fear of retaliation.
How does improving and maintaining a positive safety culture benefit your dairy?
A positive safety culture improves production, reduces absenteeism, reduces the risk of injury, reduces compensation and insurance costs, and can also:
- Enhance employee understanding of safety and their motivation to behave safely.
- Increase the uptake of safety-related policies and programs.
- Help retain good employees when they feel their safety is important, their opinions are considered, and their suggestions are taken into account.
- Improve employee perception of more support available from management.
- Reduce the need to manage and enforce individual safety requirements in the long run, as these requirements become a subconscious part of each employee’s day.
- Reduce the number of incidents, injuries and damage to tools and equipment.
- Prolong the life of tools and equipment and reduce the amount of emergency maintenance.
New and young workers
A positive safety culture is important for all employees, but it is especially important to set the expectations right away with new and young workers. The importance of safety – at all levels – should be evident from the first day of employment. One of the ways to do this is to provide a safety orientation right away. For example, you should outline the safety procedures, introduce new employees to the health and safety rep, show them where the health and safety communication board is and the location of fire extinguishers, first-aid kits and other emergency supplies.
Another way to show safety is important is to ensure new and young workers complete worker health and safety awareness training right away. This is a requirement for all employees in Ontario. Supervisors must also complete supervisor safety awareness training. Formal training as well as hands-on training should be completed before a new or young employee begins a new task. This can be done via online training, in-person training or hands-on practical training. All training must be documented. Providing training early in an individual's employment shows safety is a priority, and the employer wants to take steps right away to keep employees safe.
Another part of the training process is ensuring competency. Observe and evaluate employees to ensure they understand the safety requirements of the tasks they are completing and ensure they are competent to complete their tasks safely.
Remember, safety culture directly relates to the value placed on safety throughout all levels of individuals on your dairy. When you have a positive safety culture, individuals take personal responsibility for safety and encourage others to do the same. This helps ensure everyone on your dairy is healthy and safe and helps your operation function more effectively and efficiently.
References omitted but are available upon request by sending an email to the editor.
Steps to improve and maintain a positive safety culture on your dairy
Having open communication, setting a good example, bringing awareness to hazards and taking actions to reduce hazards will have a positive impact on your safety culture.
Examples of ways to improve and maintain a positive safety culture include:
- Provide orientation and initial training to new employees right away and show them safety is a priority right from the beginning.
- Provide formal and hands-on training to all employees about safety procedures and expectations.
- Ensure leaders set a good example and follow safety procedures.
- Evaluate employees to ensure they can complete tasks safely.
- Enforce safety requirements, hold everyone accountable when safety procedures are not followed, including family members working on the dairy.
- Encourage employees to promote safety in the workplace and hold others accountable to the safety standards.
- Ensure contractors and other individuals performing work on your dairy are aware of the safety requirements, follow safety procedures and work in a safe manner.
- Have open communication. Talk to employees often. Ask questions about safety concerns. Ask if they are comfortable performing the tasks assigned to them.
- Actively encourage employees to report hazardous conditions, dangerous practices, unsafe or damaged equipment and other safety concerns in the workplace or concerns with the tasks they perform.
- Encourage employees to report errors and mistakes they make. Address these issues in an appropriate manner, making employees feel safe to report issues in the future.
- Address hazards and identify controls (adding guards, addressing fall hazards, etc.).
- Involve employees in the process of controlling hazards. Get feedback to see how the controls will work for employees and if the controls will create additional problems.
- Assess the safety culture in your workplace by asking employees about their feelings regarding safety, observing practices and looking at injury, incident and hazard trends.
