The current global crises are taking a toll on employees' mental health. This can lead to distractions and unsafe work practices. But by adopting a behavioral accident prevention process, you can ensure your workforce stays focused and safe.
The world is currently experiencing a series of major crises—from inflation, supply chain issues to ongoing wars and climate change. These problems can cause significant mental strain on your employees, affecting their focus and concentration.
The consequences include distraction from the task at hand and reduced ability to concentrate. When we’re worried, we soon find ourselves thinking about other things – and not on safe work practices or preventing workplace accidents. This distraction increases the risk of increased accident rates and unsafe behaviors.
It's important to recognize that these distractions aren't just temporary lapses. The near-constant flow of negative information from external sources can cause psychological reactions in your employees. Up to 99% of our thoughts and actions occur at the subconscious level. This means that fears and anxieties can lead to habitual unsafe behaviors – and it’s why it's crucial to continually remind employees about safety and reinforce safe habits.
How do our thought processes significantly influence a company’s safety culture? We explain more in safety mindset: putting safety front and center.
defining a behavioral accident prevention process
Occupational safety to date has consisted of technical, organizational and personnel (TOP) measures. It’s now imperative that you add further safeguards to this approach. You need to adopt a behavioral accident prevention process. This approach places a greater emphasis on addressing the mental and emotional states of employees, helping them stay focused and safe in the face of external pressures.
five key strategies for accident prevention in the workplace
To reduce workplace accidents and enhance occupational safety, it's essential to establish a behavioral-accident-prevention process. We’ve outlined both strategic and operational steps to help you achieve this goal.
1. develop a communication plan
Appropriate communication about current crises will help to calm your employees’ worries and fears. This helps to maintain and, in the best case, improve your employees’ awareness of safety issues. Address the topic early on with active and reactive communication in your company and develop an appropriate communication plan.
Create a crisis communication plan that outlines core messages for both internal and external use. This will act as building blocks when a crisis occurs, saving time and ensuring that everyone is brought up to speed. In particular, core messages help counter the growing sense of uncertainty among your employees. It’s critical that managers learn these core messages quickly and use them as needed. You can cover these messages effectively in small training sessions.
2. talk regularly about occupational safety
Holding daily or weekly safety discussions can significantly boost your team's awareness of accident prevention. Keep these sessions short—no more than 10 to 15 minutes—but make them interactive. Engaging employees in these conversations will help them retain important safety information more effectively. Use real-world examples from their daily tasks to make the material relatable.
This may sound like a lot of work. When done right, it’s anything but. Psychological research has shown that people retain knowledge best when they are actively involved in developing and repeating content. Use this insight to your advantage.
For example, you could do this during a training session on a piece of machinery. Talk to your employees about the risks involved when working with the machinery and the safety measures that can protect them from injury. This method directly involves employees, which leads to increased awareness and consciousness of occupational safety.
3. highlight the positive in safety walks
Your safety walks should involve safety specialists, managers, and safety officers. There’s no need to document every inspection in painstaking detail – the main purpose is to make yourself accessible and have conversations.
During safety walks, it’s important to focus not just on areas for improvement but also on what’s going well. Recognizing and recording positive safety behaviors will help reinforce the importance of safety while fostering a positive emotional response to safety initiatives. This can lead to a stronger, more engaged commitment to maintaining a safe workplace.
4. hold regular Q&A sessions
Regular question-and-answer sessions are a great way to address employees' concerns and keep communication lines open. These can be held in person or virtually and should include representatives from all levels of the company. Be sure to stick to the communication plan’s core messages and provide follow-up if there are questions that can't be answered immediately.
5. create a crisis committee
To effectively manage the issues your company may face, form a crisis committee. This group should include members from all key areas, including occupational safety – but it must be integrated into the crisis committee’s duties along with all other relevant areas. A well-structured, effectively managed crisis committee ensures that all members are aware of each other’s problems so that they can work together to find solutions.
the results are worth it
Implementing a behavioral accident prevention process takes time and effort, but the results are worth it. By addressing employees’ mental states and reinforcing safe habits, you’ll reduce distractions, lower the risk of accidents, and create a more resilient workforce. These steps will not only protect your employees but also prevent costly accidents, downtime, and lost productivity.
But you can still do more for optimal results. Use cloud-based AMCS EHS Management software to increase your company's compliance and safety, while providing more data quality and efficiency. We invite you to contact us. You can also see how it can streamline your safety efforts by requesting a free demo now.