The way we work changed drastically over recent years, but the safety programs created pre-2020 have yet to catch up. Employees are working at kitchen tables, coworking spaces, at customer sites, and yes, still some traditional office locations. But somehow, you need to keep them all safe as if everyone is adhering to the same policies written for pre-2020 when everyone clocked in at the same address every day.
It’s possible but only if everyone reimagines workplace safety from the ground up.
Why Existing Models Don’t Work
Safety was once easy as it was accessible with a walk-through. Is there frayed carpet on the fourth-floor corridor? Get it fixed. Is there clutter in front of the fire exit? Move it aside. Is there blood in the break room? Everyone knows where the first-aid kit is to help. Down the hall is help if something goes wrong.
But now, your entire team could be spread out across multiple cities in various locations. One person is working from home in their spare bedroom with a blown-out outlet; another is three days a week on different hot desks in a coworking space; a third is at home reconfiguring their desk every hour to meet proper standards while also teaching their child how to use Zoom for class.
Yet somehow, organizations either gave up altogether assuming those without offices could fend for themselves or tried to enforce the same safety measures that had been working within the offices (and, let’s be honest – they haven’t been working at all because we’d all know it).
How To Establish Relevant Expectations
To create a program that works, first, you need to understand what risks people actually face. This will depend greatly on the organization and industry.
For some, it’s physical – home workers lifting equipment improperly because of improper setups, ergonomically challenged positions causing repetitive stress injuries, improperly grounded overheated outlets causing sparks and flames. For others, it’s isolative – increased mental health concerns, lone-worker challenges, etc. You cannot protect against everything at once. Instead, create a top-three or top-five realistic areas of risk.
Talk with your team – but not by conducting a formalized survey that they’ll blow through without thought. Engage them on a one-on-one basis in conversations about their concerns and near misses.
Making Safety Implementable Across All Settings
The next step is creating implementable guidelines. This is where many either come up too vague (“ensure your space is safe”) or too prescribed (“your screen needs to be 20 inches from your face at a 35-degree angle).
For home workers specifically, resources exist that expand on the many areas required. The Ant Telecom home-worker safety guide outlines what to consider – from risk assessments to emergency procedures – as something wholly usable for the employer and employee on both sides of the equation.
In reality, you want to provide people with a framework they can adapt to their settings. “You must have an adjustable chair” becomes “Your chair must support your lumbar region with an even flat area for your feet flat on the ground – this can be an office chair, kitchen chair with some padding, or even a stability ball.”
The same goes for other safety areas – decision trees instead of strict lists for deeper considerations into why safety exists so employees can make critical decisions when something isn’t necessarily what you’ve envisioned.
Communication People Remember
Safety policies mean little if people know nothing about them or forget them when it’s too late. Gone are the days of recording an annual safety training and having a binder gathering dust on the cabinets when all coworkers were literally in one room.
You need touchpoints over multiple platforms and discussions and easy access to information when employees need it.
What’s helpful: video recaps (not 30 minutes – but 2-3), quick-reference guides they can keep on their phones and team meetings with safety on the agenda. Ensure that managers know how to broach safety-related topics without everyone assuming they’re being scolded.
One popular approach that works well in many organizations is having a “safety moment” at the beginning of most meetings – a quick prompt about something someone wants to share. It’s non-intrusive but keeps safety top of mind without separate sessions that no one wants to dedicate time toward.
Safety Standards that Are Flexible Yet Uniform
Flexibility in varying work settings means that organizations cannot maintain uniform standards as they once were. You cannot inspect every home office as you would access your main facility. You cannot ensure employees have buddy systems when working alone.
What you can do is set clear outcome-based standards and afford people multiple ways of reaching them. For example, instead of “All people must have a panic button,” the standard reads “All lone workers must have reliable access for emergency personnel within 30 seconds.”
How they get there may differ – dedicated device, app on their phone, check-in applications over one designated person for accountability. But regardless, safety achievements are still met even if in alternative manners.
This takes a trusted leader to allow this to happen, yet some organizations aren’t able to operate without micromanaging. The reality is most people want to be safe – if afforded the tools necessary, information provided, and concern shown for their welfare, most will make good decisions.
Making Safety Programs Sustainable
Finally, what’s often neglected through all of this is how practical safety programs are for sustainability in the long run. Programs that require one or two superhero champions will fail when those champions become bogged down or leave for other opportunities.
Embed safety into other components instead of making it its own separate issue. Integrate safety into orientation training, performance evaluations, team meetings and regular operations. Make it someone’s job (with time ensured for this) instead of a responsibility given to everyone who already has full schedules.
Track what’s useful – not just reportable injuries but leading indicators like how many people have been through risk assessments at home (which increases accountability), training attendance rates and whether people feel comfortable raising concerns or questions about safety pitfalls at all.
Employee feedback will tell you if the program meets or exceeds its goals – or if they just become another piece of corporate messaging that’s ignored.
Finally, adjust based on findings; your program won’t be perfect the first time out-of-the-gate. Build-in points for review where what’s not working can be changed and what is successful can expand.
The goal is not perfection; it’s continual improvement toward making sure your people are safe wherever they are working – and that’s worth getting right!
