You might think your work environment is a safe place for workers, but do you truly have eyes on every aspect of your company? Perhaps you don’t notice the dangers that other employees face every day. Unfortunately, workplace hazards can be difficult to spot — until they result in an injury or worse.
Why Hire a Safety Consulting Company?
Safety consulting companies look for dangers that may escape notice from management and staff. They’re experts in OSHA health and safety regulations and know the hazards that can lurk in unexpected places. Their professional inspections result in:
- Fewer injuries and accidents
- Increased productivity
- Elimination of lawsuits due to unsafe conditions
- Increased employee morale and happiness
- Compliance with government regulations
If you currently have an Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) department at your business, there’s no need to push them to the side or give them a reason to think they’re being replaced.
Safety consulting companies work with these departments to increase worker safety. It will be your in-house team that will be responsible for implementing the recommended changes.
What To Look for in a Third-Party Safety Consulting Firm
Hiring the right firm means researching a variety of safety consulting companies. You will need to examine their services, reputation, and cost to make the right decision for your business.
1. Wide Range of Services
Creating a roadmap to safety takes expertise in a great number of areas. They’ll need to offer solutions for:
Preventing Accidents
Being able to spot areas where employees could experience avoidable accidents is just the beginning. The firm you choose needs to provide realistically achievable solutions that you can implement quickly.
Managing Risk
Some jobs have inherent risks associated that will never be eliminated entirely, such as law enforcement officers or aviation test pilots. Safety consulting companies need to be able to reduce workplace risk as much as possible, even for dangerous jobs.
Health/Safety Education
Not every potential accident is the fault of the environment, so all staff needs to have safety training and education on avoiding workplace mishaps. If there’s behavior that is leading to unsafe conditions, it needs to be exposed and eliminated.
Detecting Hazards
Continued monitoring over time will expose new hazards that can’t be seen in a single day. In addition, frequent checks on workplace conditions and employee behavior will bring new issues to the surface.
Safety Leadership
Employees must take ownership of their safety by being good examples of safe behavior, particularly to new hires. Motivation with positive reinforcement can drastically improve workplace safety.
2. Vast Industry Experience
The firm you hire needs to have experience identifying workplace hazards and familiarity with the regulations that govern workplace safety. Because the company you choose will be responsible for improving the conditions in which your employees work every day, it will be up to you to research their history.
3. Positive Client Reviews
You also want to check what customers say about the safety consulting firms you consider. Marketing materials will always be glowing, but reviews will reveal the truth.
Of course, look for positive reviews, but don’t gloss over negative ones. Customers are most honest in negative reviews, and if they’re highlighting behavior or practices that would be deal-breakers for you, then you know you can avoid those companies.
4. Professional Affiliations
Certifications from organizations such as the Board of Certified Safety Professionals demonstrate that companies have knowledge and experience. Still, you also need to research the credentials of any firms you’re considering.
There are less-than-scrupulous organizations that will offer credentials to any company that pays them enough money, regardless of any skills or expertise that should be criteria for said credentials.
5. Technology and Tools
You should expect that the safety consulting companies you’re considering hiring have the best tech to help them do their jobs. One of the most important tools in their toolbox should be software that updates in real-time, such as Safety By Design’s SafeTeam Web Application. This software should:
- Show what safety issues have been addressed and how.
- Be able to share this information among the problem solvers.
- Track workplace incidents.
- Monitor staff attendance.
- Manage all aspects of inspections.
Ensuring workplace safety compliance takes top-notch communication and documentation. Without these two key components, you’ll never know what (if anything) has been resolved.
Safety By Design Helps Businesses Stay Compliant
Track your safety progress with Safety By Design’s SafeTeam Web Application. Compliance isn’t recommended; it’s required. The real-time updates you get with SafeTeam make all previous methods of workplace safety tracking obsolete.
Safety By Design is offering a free 60 day trial of SafeTeam so you can see the results for yourself.
Contact Safety By Design today to keep your workplace safe and compliant.
Tags: safety consultant, safety consulting company
