How to Keep Your Workforce Safe with Policies and Procedures

Organizations prioritize keeping employees safe, not just for ethical and legal reasons, but also to protect their operations and reputation. Employee well-being has become a key focus, and having the right policies and procedures is crucial to ensure safety. These policies guide employees on how to avoid and minimize incidents.

While many organizations have safety policies in place, they often struggle to keep them updated or ensure they’re followed. This article explores the importance of health and safety policies and procedures, how they contribute to workplace safety, and tips for creating effective policies. It also addresses common challenges and how to overcome them to ensure policies are effective.

Why Every Organization Needs Safety Policies

Health and safety are essential in the workplace, and every organization must have policies to protect employees. Here’s why:

1. It’s the right thing to do: Employers have a moral and ethical duty to ensure the safety of their employees.
2. Industry-specific rules: Many industries have policies to protect customers and partners, and some sectors have extra regulatory requirements.
3. Certification needs: Safety policies help organizations meet the requirements for certifications needed to operate.
4. Protecting reputation: An unsafe workplace or the perception that safety isn’t a priority can harm a company’s reputation and brand.
5. Supporting employee well-being: Promoting safety creates a positive work environment, helps attract and keep talent, and boosts productivity.
6. Avoiding fines and legal issues: Proper safety policies can prevent costly fines, penalties, and disruptions from legal actions.
7. Minimizing operational disruptions: Avoiding incidents helps keep operations running smoothly without unnecessary monitoring or investigations.
8. Controlling insurance costs: A strong focus on safety can prevent higher insurance rates caused by safety concerns or noncompliance.

Effective safety policies benefit both employees and the organization, ensuring a safe, productive, and reputable workplace.

Key Safety Policies Every Organization Should Have

Every organization should have health and safety policies in place, though specific policies may vary by industry or sector. Some of the most important safety policies include:

• Uniforms or Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
• Operating Machinery and Equipment
• Maintaining Machinery and Equipment
• Health and Safety Training and Education
• Alcohol and Drug Policies
• Employee Well-Being Policies
• Workplace Safety Measures
• Ergonomic Guidelines for office workers, both on-site and remote
• Safety Evaluations for Equipment
• Working Hours Guidelines
• Driving Safety Policies
• Work Environment Standards
• Incident Reporting Procedures
• Fire Safety Procedures

And many more! Tailoring these policies to your organization’s specific needs helps ensure a safe and productive workplace.

Who Handles Safety Procedures and Policies?

Different teams are responsible for managing health and safety policies and procedures. These teams often include:

• Health and Safety departments
• Human Resources
• Real Estate and Facilities teams
• Legal and Compliance teams
• Frontline Support teams
• And more.

When multiple teams own different policies, it can be challenging to keep everything up-to-date and consistent. Collaboration and clear communication are key to managing safety effectively.

What Role Do Policies and Procedures Play?

Written policies are essential for ensuring health and safety in the workplace. Employees should have easy access to them. Health and safety policies are important because they:

• Provide clear guidelines for safe behavior.
• Help employees understand how to avoid risks.
• Ensure the organization meets legal and compliance requirements.
• Support a safer and more productive work environment.

Policies and procedures are key tools for keeping everyone informed and protected.

Clear Details Are Important
Health and safety rules are often very detailed and specific. They cover different situations and make sure everyone knows what to do. These rules are not optional—they must be followed to keep everyone safe.

Training and Onboarding Help
Safety policies are great tools for teaching new employees about workplace safety. They help people learn the important steps to stay safe while doing their jobs.

Guidelines for Unusual Situations
Serious safety problems don’t happen often, but when they do—like during a weather emergency—employees may not know what to do. In these cases, safety policies provide clear steps to follow.

Meeting Expectations from Others
Regulators, certification agencies, insurers, and big customers expect companies to have proper safety rules. You may need to show them that your team understands and follows these rules.

Creating Safety Policies
While there are no strict rules for making safety policies, some best practices can help you write clear and effective guidelines for your workplace.

Assign Clear Roles and Responsibilities

Make sure each safety policy has a specific person in charge. This person should be responsible for creating the policy, getting it approved, and making updates when needed. Everyone should know who is in charge and what their role is.

Involve Everyone Who Matters

Include all the important people in your business when creating or reviewing safety policies. A RACI chart can help you figure out who should be part of the process. Don’t forget to involve legal or compliance experts to make sure everything follows the rules.

Get Input from Employees

Employees should have a say in creating safety policies. Their feedback can provide useful ideas that make the policies work better in real-life situations and help everyone adjust to any changes.

Ensure Policies Are Clear and Easy to Understand

Health and safety policies should be written in a way that is simple and easy to understand. If needed, translate them into other languages so everyone can follow them. Write the policies with the people who will use them in mind. It’s also a good idea to have employees review the policies before they are finalized. Their suggestions can help make the policies better. You can also ask employees to confirm they’ve read and understood the policies, which can provide helpful feedback for improvement.

​How Policy Management Software Can Make Safety Rules Easier

Putting safety policies into action can be tough, but SP Policy Manager, a policy management tool, can make it simpler and more organized.

Making Policies Easy to Find

​One big challenge with managing policies is making sure employees can easily find them. Sometimes, policies are scattered across different intranet pages, or some employees, like frontline workers, don’t have full access to them.

SP Policy Manager, a policy management tool, solves this by creating a central library where all safety policies are stored. Employees can quickly search and filter through the library to find what they need.

Keeping Track of Policy Updates

​Sometimes, people use outdated versions of a policy by mistake. Policy management software solves this by keeping only the latest version visible. It also helps employees save the newest policy in a central library instead of on their personal computers, so everyone uses the correct version. This prevents confusion and keeps things organized.

Keeping Policies Up-to-Date

​The hardest part of managing policies is making sure they stay current. Policy management software helps by assigning clear ownership, sending automatic reminders, and providing tools to streamline updates.

Building Employee Trust

​When employees have to email policy owners to get the latest version, it creates bad habits and confusion. A central, up-to-date library makes policies easy to find and helps rebuild trust by ensuring everyone has access to the right version.

Making Sure Employees Understand Policies

Employee attestation is an important part of sharing policies. This means employees confirm they’ve read and understood the policies. Policy management software can make this easier by tracking who has completed the process and providing reports to show compliance. It can also include quizzes to test if employees truly understand the policies.

Keeping Everyone Updated on Policy Changes

Safety policies need to be updated regularly, but it can be hard to let everyone know about the changes. Policy management software helps by sending personalized updates, automatic reminders, and tracking employee attestation to make sure everyone is informed and understands the updates.

​Making Onboarding and Annual Policy Reviews Easier

New employees need to learn safety policies during onboarding, and some employees must review policies every year. Doing this manually takes a lot of time and effort. A policy management tool like SP Policy Manager can automate both onboarding and yearly policy reviews, saving time and making the process more efficient.