Page 82 - Serious Incident Prevention How to Achieve and Sustain Accident-Free Operations in Your Plant or Company

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Employee

Involvement—

Developing Teamwork

The active involvement of employees at all levels of the organization
is required to achieve and sustain an effective safety management process.
Organizations often recognize this need by including strong references to
active employee involvement and effective teamwork in the organizational
vision statement. However, in reality, the effectiveness of involvement and
teamwork in the workplace often falls far short of the vision.
Why do efforts to involve employees in safety fall short of the organi-
zation’s stated vision? In many situations performance gaps exist because
the organization does little more than state their desire for employee in-
volvement and teamwork. A closer look often indicates the organization
has given little or no thought to developing an effective strategy for
achieving their objectives. Without an effective plan, employee involve-
ment efforts will be little more than window dressing on the company vi-
sion statement—the real opportunities to leverage employee involvement
and teamwork for improved safety results will be missed.

Employee Involvement on Teams

One of the most practical and effective ways to channel employee in-
volvement toward the achievement of a safer work environment is through

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