Writing a Safety Program

• 1). Formulate a safety policy statement. When formulating this statement, keep in mind that a safety policy statement is usually a statement that generally applies to all written safety programs for an organization. If this statement is already in place, review the policy statement and propose revisions, if required, that allow the new safety program to be covered.
  
  
• 2). State the objective and scope of the safety program. If the program is to be used as a road map, it is important to know the direction to be driven. The objective can be general in nature but it must state a goal---whether the goal is regulatory compliance, hazard elimination or accident prevention. The scope must be more specific in nature. This statement will narrow the focus of the safety program and give management and employees clarification of what activities or which employees are regulated by the safety program and which are not.
  
  
• 3). Document roles and responsibilities. In order for a safety program to be a useful living document, it must dictate what the roles of management, employees, safety and health professionals and safety committee members are. Clear roles and responsibilities are essential to maintain accountability and enforcement of the safety program.
  
  
• 4). Determine enforcement procedures for the safety program. This section of the program should indicate what constitutes a violation of the program and how disciplinary action should be used, if necessary. It is important to indicate whether the safety program will have its own disciplinary rules or if discipline is to be determined by a general human resources or safety policy statement.
  
  
• 5). List the safety rules and regulations. This should be a combination of federal, state and local safety rules, as well as company safety standards.
  
  
• 6). Indicate how training will be provided. The training section of a safety program must specifically spell out the type of training to be provided, topics to be covered, frequency and duration of training sessions. Furthermore, the program should make clear which employees are mandated to receive training.
  
  
• 7). Document evaluation procedures. These procedures indicate how the success of the safety program will be measured, how often the program will be evaluated, who will participate in the evaluation and a method for making revisions to the program, if necessary.