The U.S. Department of Labor has requested that employers share how they work to create cultures of safety.
In an announcement last week, the department said its Occupational Safety and Health Administration wants input on ways to increase worker participation in safety programs, as well as ways to reduce injuries and fatalities.
Broadly, OSHA said it aims to explore how organizational cultures can be inclusive of safety and how employers can reduce barriers — such as financial, social and behavioral factors — to safe and healthy workplaces.
The agency encouraged stakeholders to submit answers to several questions, including:
- What are your organization's values?
- Does your organization communicate safety and health in its values?
- What is an example of how you demonstrate that safety and health are important values to you while at work?
- Does your organization promote safety and health in the workplace? If so, how?
- How have your organization’s safety and health needs shifted over time?
“We invite employers and employees to share their valuable insights into how workers and their organizations successfully develop safety and health programs and their concerns about what needs improvement,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker in a statement. “Effective business operators listen to workers and align company values with best safety practices to keep people safe. Those who do improve job quality, reduce costs for medical care and lost time and make theirs a place people want to work.”
The agency will accept answers online at https://www.regulations.gov/docket/OSHA-2023-0011 until Nov. 30.
