Though it is hard to believe, workplace safety and productivity are like Siamese twins; one cannot live without the other. So that clearly means that you cannot make any kind of compromise on the security front if you are to ensure the complete well-being of your employees which in turn will have a benign impact on the productivity. But sometimes, in the rush to make our workplace safe, things take an ugly turn. Though this is something I least like to discuss, there is no denying of the fact that sometimes safety measures go overboard, stiffens the productivity and finally starts creating trouble.
So, if you are facing something similar, you might need to realign your strategy. Rather than focusing on how to prevent injuries and fatal accidents in the workplace, you might need to focus on building a solid contingency plan.
Yeah it might sound like I am making a blasphemy here but take a look around and you will find countless number of organizations spending dollars to prevent accidents which in reality have very little chance of taking place. Sometimes, these organizations hire 5 or 10 safety consultants who usually meet once in a while and discuss some trivial safety issues seriously over a cup of coffee. These types of activities will add nothing but more complexities to the daily activities of an organization and increase production cost in the name of providing a safe workplace for the employees. But eventually, accidents are bound to take place and probably for that reason, they are known as accidents.
So, It makes sense if business organizations have a contingency plan on the table that could play crucial role in difficult time.
Now, I am not suggesting you to go back to the Stone Age and forget everything that you have been taught about workplace safety. Not at all. What I am trying to say is that you have to accept that no matter how much you try, you will never be able to ensure 100% safety of your employees. So, it is better to have a contingency plan ready.
We are Human Beings After All
It is a fact that organizations do everything possible to get the right person on board. We conduct extensive interviews, ask them tricky question and sometimes uncomfortable questions to get an idea how they are going to react when they face a hostile situation. If this is not enough, some organizations even go the extra mile and make all the background checks and all that, to figure out whether the candidate worth the position or not. And when we are done with all the background check and all that, we finally come to the conclusion that we can hire that awesome guy. So, finally we have got an eligible candidate and then we start spending money on his training and when he starts workings, he gets himself injured just like any other ordinary candidates out there.
Now, please do not blame that guy because it is not his fault. After all, we are all human beings.
Mistakes Make A Man Perfect
It is tough to accept that eventually something will go wrong and some of your workers will get injured. Yeah, this is a bittersweet pill but you have to accept the truth and move on.
We are being taught from time immoral that mistakes are bad and therefore, we need to avoid them like plagues. But even after taking so many precautions, you will eventually find that your employees are making the same silly mistakes.
Contain your anger because this is not going to change anything. Rather you should be concentrating on learning from these mistakes because after all, mistakes make a man perfect.
But these accidents should not cost human lives and therefore, it makes sense why you should spend more on contingency plans. If we can predict and prevent everything, there would probably have no terrorist attack, no medical malpractice, no wardrobe malfunction, no traffic accident, no divorce and of course, no crime. But since we are not living in a perfect world, in fact, far from the concept of a perfect world, we have to have a plan B. I mean when a person gets injured, you simply cannot make him suffer.
Hopefully, I have made myself clear why you should be concentrating on contingency than becoming obsessed with prevention.
About the Author: This article is contributed by Michael Evans who is associated with http://www.safety-steps.co.uk/