Professional or occupational safety programs are an aspect that is considered important in many organizations. The main concern is whether or not the programs have an impact on Return on Investment (ROI). The capital involved in the maintenance of these programs is huge and therefore it costs the organizations a great deal. Production resources are scarce and therefore, both governmental and private organizations should consider lowering their average costs so as to increase unit returns per investment. In their article, Jervis and Collins suggest that the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) is the most effective and comprehensive tool that can be implemented in any safety program (2001). This criterion requires that an organization should have access to safety and health services in order to effectively control specific hazards and hence positively impact the Return on Investment. Dennis Burk, in his article, as will be discussed in this paper suggests a totally different safety program known as Off-the-job safety.
Employers have heavily invested in safety programs with the aim of reducing incident rates, reducing insurance costs, minimizing regulatory issues and increasing the employee’s morale which has led to a great return on investment. However, they clearly state that the employers might not have invested on the off- the- job safety program (Burks, 2019). Most incidences occur outside the places of work but eventually affect the overall performance of the company in terms of health premiums, readiness to perform as well as reliability of the workforce. The authors say that this program would be an extension of the workplace safety program and hypothetically state that the return on investment might be higher (Burks, 2019). The article focuses on a special project emphasis that has worked in various industries such as engineering and architecture, which is an example of how organizations should try to implement the off-the-job safety program.
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The special emphasis project is presented in this article is the prevention of head injuries due to bike or skateboards riding. According to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital, approximately 400000 bicycle-related injury cases are reported every year and that a helmet could significantly reduce the number of reported cases. In the project presented in the article, helmets were offered freely to all employees who claimed to have bicycle riding children or grandchildren (Burks, 2019). The helmets were printed with the company’s logo and the employees were required to order them from a specific website managed by the firm itself. Approximation of the required number of helmets was done by revisiting the database and identifying the approximate number of dependent children (Burks, 2019). A total of 500 helmets were ordered and in case the helmets exceeded the required number; they would be donated to the local council which has various children safety programs.
The return of investment was a huge success that other companies should consider. Some of the benefits included; safety motivation to the employees, reduced number of insurance claims due to injuries, increased employees’ interest in the off-the-job program and most importantly protecting the health the employees’ children who are considered part of the firm (Burks, 2019). Further success of this project was enhanced by the 10 dollar donation on the ordering website; this money was supposed to cover unexpected severe difficulties such as death, fire or serious injuries. In many aspects, this project brought benefits to the firm.
Implementation of an effective safety program is important and should be placed at the top in the hierarchy value of any organization. The author suggests that the benefits of the off-the-job programs might be under-realized but any no occupational safety program would be an extension. An organization could reap a wide range of benefits from the program. In my own opinion, the off-the-job safety program is an effective safety program that every organization should consider implementing. The program focuses on the activities that do not necessarily affect the employees in their exact places of work but emphasizes the bottom line effect to the firm.
References
Burks, D. (2019). Off-The-Job Safety. Professional Safety, 64 (6), 60-61. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/2238486221?accountid=45049
Jervis, S., & Collins, T. R. (2001). Measuring safety's return on investment. Professional Safety , 46 (9), 18.
