Issues related to OSHA rule alignment, safety meetings and workman’s compensation are always a hot topic in the HR industry. One founder shaking up human relations is Kelly Kubicek, the founder of Fulcrum HR Consulting. She’s known for always having a hot new take on every facet of the ever-changing field and presenting clients with the most honest assessment of industry issues.
She shared that the requirements and relationship between safety meetings and workman’s compensation will vary from industry to industry and company to company — but there is always a close correlation. Kubicek has put in over 14 years in the human relations field and there has never been more need for her forward thinking than now.
In addition to critical safety issues, her firm specializes in HR training, departmental development, and informed outsourcing designed to provide clients the time-saving tools that lead to the higher productivity, acquisition, and retention rates that ultimately maximize ROI.
Over her storied career, she has led full-scale overhauls of state governments, including her role in saving thousands for the State of Nebraska when she streamlined their entire payroll system — which compensates over 9,000 employees — in under a year.
More recently, Kubicek was invited to join the Forbes Council, where she exchanges knowledge with other C-suite execs, industry disruptors, and groundbreaking entrepreneurs. In the short time since she joined, she’s taken a leadership role and published four popular articles on thought-provoking HR topics.
“With OSHA and workman’s compensation, the most important thing I tell my clients is to never skimp on or underestimate the power of education. It’s through knowledge that we have better alignment with OSHA and fewer workman’s compensation claims,” she said.
Today, she shares her best tips for safety meetings and worker’s compensation within your organization.
Keep an Eye on Training
While the continuing education and safety training requirements may be extensive for one company, they may be minimal for another for many reasons. “Ultimately, it depends on the type of work your employees perform and the types of hazards they might encounter in the workplace,” explained Kubicek of why companies must provide certain levels of safety training.
The training rules may be less rigorous for some employers. For instance, employers with ten or fewer employees can communicate their emergency action plan orally to employees. Larger employers, however, must have a written emergency action plan.
Regardless of your category, Kubicek advises her clients to go above and beyond, providing as many resources as possible to their employees.
After all, more safety knowledge often leads to fewer workman’s compensation cases.
Schedule Regular Safety Meetings
In addition to any and all required training, one of the best ways to maintain a safe work environment is to schedule regular, well-planned safety meetings. Keeping them regularly planned and of a standard format and length will also make employees more open and accustomed to these occurrences.
Kubicek also offers some steps to successful safety meetings:
- Don’t spring any surprises on your staff in the content of your safety meetings. For example, if you’re planning to change company operating hours or relocate the staff parking lot, don’t announce it at the safety meeting.
- Hold the meetings on the same day and time so that employees can expect and plan for them. For example, if you have monthly meetings, always hold them at 10 am on the second Tuesday of the month. This helps ensure no one will suddenly find they have another appointment at the same time.
- Keep it as short and sweet as possible to stay in your employee’s good graces. Some industries have a lot of safety issues but don’t try to cover the whole range at once — people will tune out. So instead, focus on a few issues each time.
- Consider which topics work well together for a meeting agenda. Depending on your business, you’ll want to cover related topics. “For example, you might pair a lesson on using personal protective equipment to prevent serious or even fatal injuries with best practices for lifting heavy boxes to avoid back strain,” advised Kubicek.
- Engagement is key, so make sure that presentations are interactive and that you are not just reading PowerPoint slides. Some ways to further engage your staff are to invite questions and suggestions, point out employees who have been doing it right as examples, and pay special attention to long-term employees who have seen it all and can provide advice for the rookies.
- Make it fun. Sure, it might sound impossible, but some companies have had great success with safety games. “For example, you can set up a Jeopardy!-style game where a category is fire safety and employees compete to see who knows all the steps to take in the event of a fire,” said Kubicek.
No matter which tips you can incorporate into your safety meetings, they are always win-win get-togethers since they help keep everyone on your staff out of harm’s way.
Experts like Kubicek and Fulcrum HR Consulting can help to get you on a schedule of well-planned safety meetings that keep you OSHA compliant and lead to fewer injuries, lower premiums, and a more profitable business.
About Kelly Kubicek
Kelly Kubicek, CEO of Fulcrum HR Consulting, is on a mission to make HR more transparent. Fulcrum HR Consulting boasts vast HR experience, including accomplishments such as consolidating the entirety of over 9000 Nebraska state employees in one system in under 12 months and extensive work in Human Capital efforts. To discover how to uplevel your HR Process visit www.fulcrumhrconsulting.com
