The fact that U.S. businesses right now are spending more than $1 billion every week on workplace injuries should give you some idea of how directly safety practices impact the bottom line. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Subpar safety practices can cost you in a host of other ways as well, from decreased retention to increased turnover — and worse.
Today, almost all manufacturing and logistics organizations can be lumped into one of the following two buckets when it comes to safety. Where do you think you stand?
reactive/calculative
- substantially higher risks of serious workplace injury
- history of making changes only after injuries occur, rather than working proactively to prevent them
- loosely defined safety programs that aren’t tied to bigger-picture goals
- leadership lacks comprehensive buy-in around the value of best-in-class safety practices
proactive/transformative
- “culture of safety” that aligns with higher-level strategy and mission
- leadership believes safety is a priority — and demonstrates that belief daily
- safety-management programs built around proactive planning and forward-looking assessments
- employees are engaged, retained a higher rate and suffer fewer injuries
- higher overall levels of workforce productivity
diagnose your safety maturity
Recognize your own organization somewhere in the mix? You aren’t alone. With almost 13,000 U.S. workers injured on the job every single day, there’s clearly room for safety improvements at many manufacturing and logistics companies today.
So how does your organization stack up? Are you a safety leader — or still a long way from best in class?
To learn more about best practices, check out our complete guide to workplace safety.