Say your company has just been hit with a bunch of very high fines because of safety violations. And these fines are just the latest. There’s clearly a problem—your OHS program isn’t working. How do you fix it? One solution may be to bring in a safety consultant to audit the existing program, determine the problems and recommend solutions. But consultants cost money. So how do you convince senior management that investing in a safety consultant will actually save the company money down the road? This case study of how a safety consultant benefited a Minnesota company may be just the thing.

Case Study on Minnesota Company

After a government safety inspection of a plant, a Minneapolis manufacturing company was hit with 14 violations, nine of which were considered “major.” The inspectors recommended that it:

• Develop a leadership/management program;
• Involve workers in an OHS program;
• Appoint a safety director;
• Form a safety committee; and
• Develop and implement a recordkeeping program for injuries and illnesses.

Company managers realized that they’d been focusing on day-to-day operations and devoting inadequate time to evaluate their current OHS program—despite the fact that the company philosophy was that “nothing’s more important than worker health and safety and that a productive worker who isn’t safety conscious is a ticking time bomb.”

Managers decided on a four-phase plan to evaluate the plant and its processes and correct any problems that included:

• Determining the root causes of the violations;
• Bringing the plant into compliance;
• Establishing a new OHS program; and
• Ensuring that the above three phases were implemented.

To that end, they hired a safety consultant to evaluate the plant’s processes and the existing OHS program.

Safety Consultant’s Conclusions

The safety consultant found that established practices and procedures weren’t being enforced. Specifically:

• Most injuries were a direct result of the workers’ failure to follow established safety and health practices;
• Accidents, injuries and near misses weren’t properly investigated; and
• The treatment for injured workers wasn’t being followed up.

With these findings in mind, the safety consultant helped the company create a new OHS program. Highlights:

• Creation of a safety director position. That person was given the authority to implement changes, work closely with senior management and ensure that supervisors were accountable for implementing the new program.
• Implementation of a progressive discipline program for workers and supervisors who don’t comply with or enforce the new safety measures.
• Development of a safety incentive program.
• Introduction of a “Zero Accident Culture.”
• Increased communication to workers of safety information and updates.
• Provision of safety leadership training for supervisors.
• Increased safety training for workers, including testing on competence.
• Creation on monthly hazard inspection schedule with posting of results.

Benefits of New OHS Program

While the benefits of the new OHS program have occurred throughout the company, of special note is the $44,000 reduction of workers’ comp premiums over three years. The company hasn’t had a worker with a stress or strain injury to the back, shoulder or neck in years and the number of lost work days overall has declined. The improved safe work culture has helped worker recruitment and retention. And the costs of hiring the safety consultant and installing new safety equipment were soon recovered.

More importantly, during a government inspection after implementation of the new OHS program, the company didn’t receive a single violation.