Key Takeaways:
- Small and medium-sized businesses are at a higher risk for workplace injuries and can benefit from implementing safety technologies.
- The National Safety Council’s "A Small Business Guide to Safety Technology" provides a five-step roadmap for identifying and adopting safety technologies.
- The guide includes appendices with questions for workplace risk assessments, sample questions for potential safety technology vendors, and a list to help employers get feedback from workers.
- Small employers have an advantage in fostering regular, personal engagement with their teams and creating a culture of innovation.
- The guide provides ways for small employers to reduce technological expenses, including collaborative purchasing, tax incentives, and insurance rebates.
Introduction to Workplace Safety
Small and medium-sized businesses are at an elevated risk for workplace injuries, making it essential for them to prioritize safety and implement effective safety technologies. The National Safety Council, through its Work to Zero initiative, has published "A Small Business Guide to Safety Technology: Practical Strategies for Beginners, Growing Teams and First-Time Adopters" to support small employers in this effort. The guide, authored by Kenna Stanley, a senior research associate at NSC, aims to provide small employers with the knowledge and framework needed to apply safety technologies in a scalable and easy-to-understand way.
The Safety Innovation Journey
The guide relies on Work to Zero’s "safety innovation journey," a five-step roadmap designed to help employers identify and successfully adopt safety technologies. The steps include assessing risk, identifying technological solutions, determining readiness, making the business case, and launching a pilot and implementing the technology. The guide also lists various types of safety technologies, such as wearables and artificial intelligence, along with examples of potential uses. Additionally, the guide includes three appendices: A, B, and C, which provide supplementary information and tools to support the safety innovation journey.
Appendices and Resources
Appendix A is intended to supplement workplace risk assessments by helping employers engage with workers about potential hazards and other topics. It includes questions such as "Are there any areas in the workplace where you feel unsafe or uneasy?" and "What changes or improvements would you suggest to help make our workplace safer?" Appendix B provides sample questions for employers to ask potential safety technology vendors, covering topics such as technological fit and effectiveness, support services, cost and licensing, implementation and maintenance, and data and privacy. The final appendix includes a list to help employers get feedback from workers when a new technology is piloted or implemented.
Advantages for Small Employers
Small employers have an advantage over larger ones in fostering regular, personal engagement with their teams, which is essential for creating a culture of innovation. According to the guide, employee engagement doesn’t have to mean formal meetings or structured safety huddles – it can also happen during everyday conversations. Small employers can use these moments to ask about the challenges their workers are facing, the types of hazards they encounter, and procedures that may not be working. This regular engagement can help build trust and encourage open feedback, especially for concerns that might be hard to voice out loud.
Creating a Culture of Innovation
Creating a culture of innovation is critical for small employers to successfully adopt safety technologies. This involves engaging workers, making transparency a key concern, avoiding punitive use with safety technologies, and identifying a "digital champion" – an employee who can support a technological implementation. Small employers have an edge over larger organizations in creating this culture of innovation due to their smaller size and fewer decision-makers, which allows them to pivot and innovate more quickly and with less resistance.
Reducing Costs
The guide provides ways for small employers to reduce their technological expenses, including collaborative purchasing with other employers, trade associations, or local networks, tax incentives and credits, insurance rebates, and financing from technological vendors. Small and medium-sized employers can also look for grant and funding opportunities to help defray costs. By exploring these options, small employers can make safety technologies more affordable and accessible.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Although the guide is intended for small employers, the information and frameworks provided can apply to any organization. The guide is a valuable resource for any employer interested in trying a new technology but unsure where to start or how to implement it. By following the safety innovation journey and utilizing the resources and tools provided, employers can create a safer and more innovative work environment, reducing the risk of workplace injuries and improving overall safety and well-being.
