Want to Reap the Benefits of Workplace Safety?

Get a group of workplace safety advocates from diverse industries together, and you’ll get a variety of perspectives. But to a man, and woman, they will agree on one thing: Management commitment drives safety.

Some companies demonstrate support from the top by investing in training and personal protective equipment.

Others go leaps and bounds farther by requiring management to follow the same safety procedures as front-line employees follow.

Goodwill Industries is one of a rare few employers that punctuates its commitment to safety by making an example of the person on top of the org chart.

“Last year, our safety coordinator required all employees to take CPR,” said Cathy Rudzinski, vice president and chief financial officer of Goodwill Industries. “Anyone who did not get the training by the deadline would be written up.”

See where this is going? The deadline came and went, and Goodwill CEO Jerry Davis was among a handful of employees who had not complied.

“To Jerry’s credit, he was the first to step up, admit his mistake and accept the consequences,” said Rudzinski.

Those consequences included a mark on Davis’ permanent Goodwill file. Worse yet, he had to report his oversight to Goodwill’s chairman of the board.

“That really put teeth in our safety program,” laughed Cathy. “When your safety coordinator can write up the CEO, employees know that nobody is immune. They understand that safety is a value that never gets compromised…by anyone.”

Rudzinski recently shared Davis’ story during a panel discussion titled “The ROI of Safety in the Workplace.” The free event was a joint production between Texas Mutual and the Austin Business Journal. Attendees got tips from peers who have overcome the hurdles of making safety a core business process.