Lasting productivity improvement requires the transition from a “fix it” mentality to a “fix it and prevent it” mentality. Nowhere is this more important than when it comes to workplace safety. Improving security and performance go hand in hand. An effective performance improvement program requires you to investigate the causes of accidents, determine the conditions that are at the root of those causes, and determine best practices to prevent those conditions from reoccurring. The solution is the implementation of a productivity and safety program.

An effective safety and productivity improvement program requires the creation of a central implementation team The central implementation team plays an important role as it will initiate the Productivity and Safety (IP&S) process in a target area, begin implementation, and will teach others in the area about the system.

The central implementation team manages the Productivity and Safety implementation process. However, the most important responsibility of the team is to encourage participation in the use of the IP&S system so that it can become part of everyone’s daily work.

Once you have established your central implementation team, you can begin to develop your IP&S program. The way you prepare the project will make or break it. The most important step is making sure you have the right people on board, the people who can give you the facts and make effective decisions.

Another critical part of preparation is making sure the purpose and goals of the project are crystal clear. Team members must understand and accept your mission to improve workplace safety through IP&S.

One way to do this is to create a flip chart with two columns. First, identify your target area. In the left column, list what your current conditions are, and in the right column, list what you want those conditions to be after you’ve completed IP&S for security.

Another key element of preparedness is documenting problems and setting targets for improvement. Keep in mind that for every major accident there are 29 minor accidents and 300 near-misses! Make sure to track these top three layers, measuring them by day or even by shift. You can post weekly totals for everyone to see. Use this information on current trends to set improvement goals. Most of this information should be readily available because the law requires it.

Scan the workplace to collect data and then analyze the data. Once you have identified the problems and categorized them, you need to get to the root causes of each problem. You can do this using a technique called “5 why”. The 5 whys technique requires participants to ask “why” at least five times, or to work on five levels of detail. Once it becomes difficult to answer the “why”, the root cause has probably been identified. While asking the 5 whys, don’t switch to asking “who?” The focus should be on the problem and not on the person involved. Sometimes you will have to ask “why” more than five times to get to the real cause of your problem.

As you can see, simply by identifying the category of the problem and then asking why the problem exists, you can discover the root causes that underlie many security problems.

Best practices are effective and reliable methods. They have already shown that they will improve safety in the workplace. Each time you identify the cause of a security problem, you can choose from a number of best practices that other companies have found effective in addressing the same cause.

A combination of recent OSHA guidelines and proven IP&S safety techniques will give you a strong set of best practices to choose from. First, make sure you adhere to current OSHA guidelines. You may find cases where you don’t correct them right away.

Then continue to work towards full control of conditions by using IP&S best practices. Remember, the workplace is a dynamic and ever-changing environment. Your problems are always changing.

For the IP & S program to work on your premises, it is necessary that:

• Develop new awareness and skills.
• Get support from management.
• Provide continuous communication throughout the company.
• Make improving productivity and safety standards a part of everyday work.
• Promote full employee participation.
• Create visual controls.

People control and manage the work area, so it is essential that everyone can differentiate between right and wrong. Consider using visual techniques such as lines, labels, signs, color codes, and lights that allow you to understand the standard at a glance and immediately correct any variations.