Written Safety Plans Fact Sheet

If your company is like most others, it has certain goals that it wants to achieve in safety, such as reducing the costs of downtime, and workers' compensation related to accidents and injuries. Because the underlying cause of accidents is directly related to the safety program, efficient management of all safety processes is critical to the safety effort. Yet, many companies do not have a comprehensive set of written plans describing each of their safety programs.

Written safety plans are the evidence of management and employee concern for safety and health that a company displays on a day-to-day basis. In order to heighten an awareness for safety, your company should develop a comprehensive safety program with written safety plans for each topic covered in the program. Having a formal written program helps you to define and direct the safety effort; ensure that the plans cover all major safety issues on a topic-by-topic basis, organizing the safety information in an accessible and logical order.

Purpose of written plans

The main purpose of any written plan is to set standard procedures for daily, weekly, monthly, and annual activities associated with that topic. Setting standard procedures saves money by streamlining area efforts, and by providing an ongoing effort that keeps safety a high priority.

The effort to develop a written safety plan takes time and money, but in return it provides a company and its employees with:

• Goals to achieve, and rules to live by;
• An implied and stated level of commitment to safety;
• Standards and expectations of employees;
• Indisputable boundaries, and disciplinary justification for failure to stay within those boundaries;
• Defined safety roles and responsibilities for managers, supervisors, and employees;
• Conservation and direction of the safety effort;
• More resourceful and efficient use of the safety budget; and
• An increased element of control at worksites.

The purpose of written safety and health plans may vary from one company to another. One, several, or all of the reasons listed above may motivate your company to create a written safety and health program supported by plans.

Making plans readable

When writing safety plans, or documents of any sort meant for communication throughout your company, the following list of pointers can help make your words understandable to all.

1. Keep sentences short, but not choppy.
2. Use the pronoun "you" to convey ownership by the employees reading the written safety plan. If you prefer to keep the level of the written program more technical or formal, then you could create a preface sheet to accompany the policy, addressing the person more familiarly to create the sense of connection you want them to have.
3. Use active verbs in parts of the written plan. They are more exciting, and create a more interesting work to read.
4. Avoid words or terms that will not be readily understood by all. If you must use such a word, define it immediately, and keep it in a glossary of terms at the beginning or end of the plan.
5. State exactly what you mean in plain language. Hints, innuendos, and fuzzy words may not be understood, may be insufficient to communicate the regulatory-required information, or may be ignored.
6. Avoid the legalese it may be easy to fall into when writing regulatory-required topics. Using plain language and addressing people directly, if possible, can help you avoid this problem.
7. Revise your first draft at least once, and edit it several times, if possible. You will find things you need to add that were left out by accident, and you will find ways of editing yourself for clarity.
8. If possible, have someone else or several people read through it as editors. Other eyes will catch things you did not.
9. Ensure that the written plan is complete. Economy of expression is commendable until you discover that a vital piece or section of information is necessary, and has been deleted or left out. Be especially wary to include enough information in the regulatory-required written plans.

Style and substance

Perhaps the most important rule of thumb to use when writing any type of document is to know your audience. So, when writing your safety plans, direct the substance and content of your message to the people who will need to work with, or from, these plans. The more closely a plan relates to actual conditions that your employees will encounter on the job, the more useful the plan will be.

Related to knowing your audience is the need to use terminology and a writing style that is accessible to them. When writing the plan to the people who will be using it, where possible, consider their educational level, and their familiarity with terminology.

Tips for successfully implementing your organization's plans

Successful implementation of your written safety plans and procedures depends on the following key factors.

Keep a long-term perspective

Even with the implementation of written safety plans, improvement will not happen overnight. The planning and organizing of the activities that will emit improvement take time and commitment from all levels of the company. But, keep in mind that the longer your organization takes to implement and conform to its plans and procedures, the longer it will continue to pay for deviations. And, unless implementation remains a priority, your organization risks losing the commitment of its employees.

Secure top-management commitment

If your company's written plan implementation initiative is dependent on one person's leadership, the initiative will usually die, and the plans will ultimately be ineffective; the plans and procedures need to be accepted company-wide. And, piecemeal implementation virtually guarantees failure. Therefore, evident and visible examples of management commitment toward developing written plans must be established by top management of the company.

Enlist company-wide participation

Plans and procedures help define job roles and expectations. The individuals in an organization that best their roles, know what is expected, and know how to improve it, are the ones performing them. Plans and procedures employees to make decisions that positively affect the bottom-line results of the company. Once an issue or activity of the company has been determined to need a policy, employee input should be solicited throughout the development and implementation process.

Provide training and tools

Training is vital in order to reach a common understanding of the goals and objectives of your plans, and the means to attain them. Management needs to also realize that training does not stop, and can never be considered finished. This continuous training is accomplished by constantly reinforcing the behavior dictated by the plans and procedures, and through open, up-front communication.

Develop measurement and reporting systems

Measurements based on facts (statistical data) must be established to assess the effectiveness of your plans and procedures; measurements might include measuring deviations from a procedure. In addition, the reporting of information must be done regularly, and it must be timely, accurate, and shared. All employees require information so that problems (deviations) can quickly be identified, analyzed, and eliminated.

Provide effective communication

The implementation of written plans and procedures may have a significant impact on the activities of your organization. They will establish definite guidelines, and will call for much tighter integration among all departments and individuals. Several factors go into effective communication of your written plans, such as:

• All written plans must have a clear objective statement that can be understood by all;
• Training and review of how the plans will be created and introduced; and
• An opportunity for all employees to become involved in the information gathering process and participation in policy development.

Be aware of barriers to implementation

Several months after policy implementation, the message that "We will run our organization according to our plans and procedures," is no longer new, and will have lost some of its excitement. As measurements improve, you will begin to see a true picture of company performance (behavior). The realization that, overall, things are not going as well as they should, may cause disappointment and anxiety.

Don't expect quick and dramatic results within days of implementing your written plans. Plans are designed to give direction and decision-making guidance, and your employees will not change their behavior overnight simply because a policy is handed to them. Plans and procedures are for long-term and continual improvement; the policy objectives are rarely achieved in the first several months, or even the first year after.