Powered by iReportSource Each year, you want to do all you can to protect the health and safety of your workers. You know that those investments pay off. After all, the average return on safety investment is as much as $4.41 for every dollar that’s been spent. But how do you prioritize your safety and health investments? Depending on the resources you have available this year and beyond, here are four areas to invest in: 1. Safety performance indicators It’s so essential for any business to be able to show and measure its safety performance. Learn Faster, spot critical areas that need attention, and take consistent action to support health and safety. Prioritizing the recording and tracking of leading indicators will also result in: More timely preventive and corrective actions The ability to better respond and recognize hazards More effective prevention through design and training. If you haven’t already, invest in a comprehensive tool that can simplify or make this kind of real-time reporting possible. 2. Streamlining your workflows Many organizations are taking steps to have all-in-one safety workflows. Which means leaders across departments can collaborate on safety together. More specifically, they can collect and then manage incident reports, tasks, progress reports, and all other safety activities. Empower your company to make safety a shared responsibility by design. Companies are also making investments in areas that can free up employees’ time in other ways. For example, iReport allows companies to quickly and easily automate OSHA logs. When you (or other employees) can generate and submit these reports automatically, you can spend your time on other areas that will add more value to the business. 3. Leadership training and development Time and time again, research has shown how leadership is tied to employee engagement and safety. Three examples of this include: One study saw that there was a lower lost-time injury rate when leaders displayed concern and care for the workforce; Another study showed that empowering workers, good relationships between management and workers, and an active role by top management in safety and health positively impacted injury rates; A third study showed that the amount of energy and creativity showed by senior managers and safety coordinators was a top factor in reducing injuries. Even though growing your leaders’ capacity can at times seem allusive, leadership growth is one of the most vital pillars of safety excellence. Ultimately, leaders have a significant role in shaping their culture. And it’s these same leaders that can help to unleash discretionary thinking/behaving in employees that can benefit your company’s performance and day-to-day safety. 4. The employee experience Creating a positive, differentiated employee experience is of paramount importance. That starts with researching to see what experiences employees are having currently and seeing where those touchpoints could improve. It may take a bit of work to define your employee experience and to see where any gaps are, but here are a few common areas where you might look to focus where you spend your time: Recruiting and hiring Company values and how that meets up with norms and expectations Onboarding Reward and recognition practices Community-related efforts Workspace design and environment Compensation and/or benefits Well-being and wellness Safety and health Communication of workplace risks and issues related to safety Continuous learning opportunities Events and activities Coaching (informal and formal) Employee feedback Exit interviews Engaged employees are advocates for your company. They are less likely to become complacent on the job. They also create a competitive advantage that can’t be easily replicated. Companies that have been intentional about fostering a great employee experience also tend to be safer and healthier organizations—and the opposite is true as well. This is undoubtedly one area that wil