2018 OSHA Safe + Sound Week

OSHA Safe + Sound Week Set for August 2018

Back in the 14^th century, sailing ships were a primary means of trading goods. To protect goods on these vessels they were insured against loss or damage. The best news for the insurance companies was to receive word that the ship had returned “safe and sound”. The word “safe” was an indication of all crew members were accounted for without injury. The word “sound” told the company the ship had not suffered any serious damage. Since then we continue to use the phrase in our daily life.

The week of August 13-19 has been designated as Nationwide Safe + Sound Week for 2018. The week is presented by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), National Safety Council, American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) just to name a few. The goal is to “raise awareness and understanding of the value of safety and health programs“. All business and companies are encouraged to participate because “safe workplaces are sound business“.

The Core Elements of Safe + Sound Week

The focus of the week is on three core elements. It covers management leadership, worker participation and find and fix hazards.

• Management leadership is a demonstrated commitment at the highest levels of an organization to safety and health. It means that business owners, executives, managers, and supervisors make safety and health a core organizational value, establish goals, provide resources, and set a good example.
• Worker participation is meaningfully engaging workers at all levels in establishing, implementing, evaluating, and improving safety and health in the workplace. Workers need to understand they are a valuable partner in making their workplace safer and can communicate with management staff.
• Finding and fixing hazards is a proactive, ongoing process to identify and control sources of potential injuries or illnesses. The goal is to establish procedures to collect and review information about known or potential hazards, investigating the root cause of them, and prioritizing needed controls.

3 Steps to Plan and Participate in Safe + Sound Week

To prepare your location to participate in the week it is a simple process. There are 3 steps. Let’s take a brief look at each one.

Step 1 Select or Plan:

Select or plan activities under each of the 3 core elements.

If you go to the activities section each element has a drop-down menu with ideas, infographics and links for more detailed information around each one.

Step 2 Plan and Promote Your Events:

For this step there are lots of ideas to use so your event can be successful.

Check out the plan and promote section. Here there are resources under such headings as event tools, graphics, social media, communications, and recruitment tools.

Step 3 Recognize Participation:

Provide all participants with a certificate or some sort of participation token.  Each organization that participates are also asked to provide feedback on their event.

While the link for participation recognition isn’t quite ready yet, it will have downloadable certificates and badges.

Start planning now to make this week a success for you and your company. Utilize all of the resources the website has to offer or come up with your own ideas. Now is the time to bring new life to your existing safety and health programs or get yours started. If there is anything ICC Compliance Center can do for you to help keep your workers safe, give us a call today.