Developing and implementing an effective Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) can seem like an overwhelming task — particularly for a small business owner, but it doesn’t have to be.
In my last post, I wrote the following summary describing what an IIPP is, and I would like you to read this part one more time:
Having an IIPP means having the basics of health and safety covered at your workplace. You start out by considering what the basics are … and how you are going to put them into practice. You commit what you come up with to writing and commit to maintaining the discipline to follow what you have written down. If you find that what you have written isn’t quite right as you move to implement, you change what you have written so that it works and is consistent with the reality of your workplace.
There I summarized the nine elements that an IIPP must put into place, and now I am beginning a series that deals with how to address each one.
Element One: By law, your IIPP must be described in writing. Enough said about that—now let’s get to what the writing is going to say.
Element Two: Who is in charge of your company’s IIPP?
At the end of the day, who is actually in charge of the safety program? If you run a small business, the answer may be as simple as … you! Larger organizations will want to designate someone — perhaps multiple people — to be accountable and to make sure the program is effective, efficient, and adhered to.
Very small businesses. For very small companies where the owner is involved directly in the operation of the business and tends to be the go-to person for day to day issues, I strongly recommend the owner be the person identified as in charge of safety. Why? Because he or she is in charge of pretty much everything else.
Safety is no less important than any other issue the business deals with. In fact, if you are really focusing on how things can go wrong or right for you and your company, and you really understand what safety is all about, you will realize that safety should be thought of as the MOST important of your day to day business concerns.
Larger businesses. Larger companies that delegate authority to managers to take on different areas of operation of the business will be approaching this issue differently. In their case, they may have a manager who has safety added to his or her other responsibilities, or for yet larger companies a manager or department specifically charged with managing safety for the company.
Any manager or supervisor can legitimately designated in writing as the person in charge of safety for the company, but remember—what you say in writing must reflect what actually happens. The person who you say in charge must actually be in charge.
If you identify a person in charge of safety, that person must really be in charge. He or she must have the authority to make all decisions affecting safety, including the authority to stop immediately any operation if it appears unsafe. And if you assign safety responsibility to a person who has other responsibilities, make sure that you and your designee fully understand that safety must not be subordinated to, compromised by, or neglected because of, the designee’s other duties.
So, in a nutshell, here is Element Two: “The person in charge of our IIPP is ____________________.”
Remember, while workplace safety can only be assured with the participation of all in a companywide effort, the ultimate responsibility for maintaining a safe workplace is the employer’s, and the employer speaks and acts through the person in charge of the Program.
Check back soon for my next post on Element three: how to set up an effective system of communication for your IIPP.
