Benchmark your program against these questions. The more affirmative answers, except for the OSHA questions and the question about incentive programs, the most you’re on your way to safety and health excellence.

1 Do you have acorporate social responsibility program?

2 Do you have staff dedicated toCSR?

3 Do you have acorporate sustainability program?

4 Do you have staff dedicated tosustainability?

5 Are you a member ofVPP?

6 Are youOHSAS 18001 certified?

7 Are youISO 14001 certified?

8 Do you operate a formal, documentedS&H management system?

9 Is you recordableOSHA injury-illness rate better than your industry average?

10 Have you had anOSHA inspectiontriggered by an employee complaint in the past 3 years?

11 Have you had anOSHA inspectiontriggered by a fatality or multiple injury incident in the past 3 years?

12 Do each of your employees received more than24 hours of safety training per year?

13 Is theratioof your S&H full-time professional staff at least 1 to every 200 employees?

15 Do you have a formalhealth promotionprogram to boost employee overall health?

16 Do you have a formal off-the-job safetyprogram for employees?

17 Does your S&H full-time professional staff have more than 20 years experience combined?

18 Does the majority of your S&H full-time professional staff haveCIH or CSP certifications?

20 Are the annualsalary increasesof your managers and supervisors in part linked to S&H performance?

21 Do you conduct annual S&Hperception surveysof employees?

22 Do you have a formalergonomics program?

23 Do you have a formalreturn-to-work program for injured employees?

25 Do you conduct facility-wideS&H auditsat least on a monthly basis?

26 Do you have a formal, documented process for identifyingand ensuring theabatement of S&H hazards?

27 Do you have a formal, documented process for responding to employee S&Hcomplaints or concerns?

28 Are your managers and supervisorsactively, personally involvedin safety meeting participating, audits, analyzing and acting onnear-miss reports and actual incidents?

29 Do youbenchmark your S&H programs against other companies?

30 Do you have a formal, document reporting system fornear-missincidents?

31 Do you have formal, document and continuous S&Hcommunicationsbetween managers, supers and employees?

32 Are managers and supervisors on afirst-name basiswith employees?

33 Do employees have the authority toshut down the lineif hazards are present?

34 Are managers, supervisors and employees given formal, documented annual S&Hexpectations and responsibilities? Defined S&H roles?

35 Issafety an agenda item at regular management-only meetings?

36 Do your employees and supers holdpre-job safety briefings?

37 Have S&H totalbudgetary resourcesincreased every year for the past five years?

38 Do you measure at least annually the S&Hcompetency of supers?

39 Do you measure at least annually the S&Hcompetency of managers?

40 Do you measure at least annually the S&Hcompetency of employees?

41 Do you consistently screen thepre-qualifications of contractorin terms of S&H competency?

42 Do you annually set facility-wide S&Hgoalsand monitor progress toward those goals?

43 Do your employees spend more than24 hours monthlyin S&H related activities (classroom training and committee meetings, planning, tailgate talks, pre-project and pre-task planning, observations, auditing, investigations).

44 Do your employees engage regularly inone-on-one S&H coaching and feedback?

45 Are your employeespaid for extra-curricularS&H roles and responsibilities?

46 Ismedical treatmentfor employee injuries and illness available within a ten-minute timeframe?

47 Isfire servicein the event of an emergency available within a ten minute timeframe?

48 Do you have formal, documentedbusiness continuity plansin the event of a natural or process disaster?

49 Do you have a formal, document program forcommunity outreachand communication?

50 In the event of a fatality or serious injury, does thetop executive at your location take responsibility for notifying next of kin?

51 Do new employees receive at least 8 hours or S&Horientation training?

52 Do new employees receive a “mentoring” buddy to develop S&H awareness and skills?

53 Do you have a formal, documented promoting for eliciting S&H ideas,suggestions from employees?

54 Do you permit employees to choose their own PPE?

55 Do youdesign-inS&H features when adding to or renovating facilities?

56 Do employees spend at least 8 hours per week on facilityhousekeeping?

57 Do you regularly use formal, document “proactive” and/or upstream S&H performance measurement metrics such as audit scores, housekeeping surveillance, near-misses, employeewellnesstests (blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.)?

58 Does your facility have in-house capabilities to respond to and clean up hazardous materials spillsor incidents?

59 Does your facility conduct at least annualdisaster rehearsals / employee evacuation plans?

60 Does your facility have documentedpermissible exposure limits(PELs) that are lower than federal OSHA’s PELs?

61 Does your facility conduct regular, documentedexposure monitoringby in-house staff?

62 Does your facility at least annually analyze injury/illness recordsfor trends relating to injury illness types, most frequent time of injury, most frequent department, etc.?

63 Do you setgoals, plans, activities to reduce injuries and illnesses based on this analysis?

64 Does your facility conductmock OSHA inspections?

65 Does your facility discourage the use of incentive reward programsthat can encourage under-reporting of injuries?

66 Does your facility have a document accountability program to ensure that managers, supers and employees carry out their assigned safety responsibilities competently?

67 Does your facility have a formal, documented process for handling employees, supers and managers whoresist S&H rules and policies?

68 Can employees raise S&H concerns or complaints without fear of reprisal or discipline?

69 Does your facility conduct regular, formal, documentedrisk assessments to identify and prioritize for abatement, low, medium and high risks?

70 Are risk assessment findingsmade available or otherwise communicated to all employees?

71 Are incident investigationfindings made available or otherwise communicated to all employees?

72 Areexposure monitoring results made available to all employees?

73 Are S&Haudit findings made available to all employees?

74 Do youremployeeshave a regular, documented role in developing or revising S&H rules, plans, priorities and goals?