Reputation and Responsibility: Why Safety Performance Shapes Brand Trus
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2023, there were a pretty unbelievable 2.6 million nonfatal workplace incidents ranging from slips and falls to illnesses. While these figures round up all kinds of safety issues from slips and falls to workplace violence, any sort of injury that occurs to a member of staff can have severe consequences, not just for the member of staff in question. Companies that fail to address workplace safety issues will eventually begin to see a deterioration in their reputation and possibly even an erosion in the way that their brand is perceived (just look at Amazon and how they handle their warehouse workers).
Here, we’re going to look at how workplace safety can make (or break) a brand, relating to both customers and how desirable a brand is in attracting the best talent. Further to this, we will explore some ways in which a company can introduce policies that safeguard its employees, creating a mutually advantageous outcome for all involved.
How Safety Performance Builds Or Destroys Brand Trust
In order to fully understand this question, we need to define what we mean by “safety performance” in both what safety means and how it can be measured. Obviously, different industries will have drastically differing views on workplace safety and what can be done to improve it, since an open-air copper mine will undoubtedly require different protocols than a law firm. But there is some overlap, for instance, when attempting to prevent violence in the workplace and implementing general policies that ought to apply to all businesses. So in this case, safety means to create an environment where your employees feel safe and happy to come into work, free of any thoughts that might distract them from performing their duties. In terms of measuring performance, there are various metrics that a company can use to gauge he effectiveness of any policies they put in place.
| Metric | Description | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) | This will measure the total number of recordable injuries or incidents per 100 employees (or however many you might choose) | This metric can offer a good benchmark to figure out what the current situation is in your organization and provide you with the more obvious trends you need to fix |
| Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred (DART) Rate | As it sounds, this metric will track cases where your staff miss work or face some kind of restriction due to an incident. | While you won't know why an employee has missed work (until you dig deeper using other metrics), this will give you an idea of the current situation you face. |
| Severity Rate | By logging the number of days missed, you can quantify how severe an incident might have been. | Assesses the long-term consequences of incidents on workforce availability. It also gives you an indication as to whether the incidents are minor or major, impacting the urgency with which you need to get new policies up and running. |
| Safety Training Completion Rate | Percentage of employees who complete required safety training programs. | By assessing this metric, you can gain a better understanding of whether your employees and department managers are taking the idea of workplace safety seriously. |
| Employee Safety Engagement Score | Gauges your employees' perception of the current safety culture. | By getting some data on this metric, you will gain a much deeper understanding of how your current employees actually feel. This can help to guide your responses and develop training and procedures that actually work. |
How This Can Impact A Brand
To get back to the primary question this post asks of how safety culture can affect a brand, you need look no further than the case we touched on in the introduction. Workplace practices inside Amazon fulfillment warehouses have long been placed under a microscope for the wild accusations of employee harassment, injury rates, and subsequent staff turnover. Unfortunately, because of the sheer size of Amazon and other companies of that ilk, they are somewhat able to shrug off all but the most heinous of these accusations, safe in the knowledge that it won’t affect their bottom line. But, for pretty much all other businesses, particularly your average SMEs, the downsides massively outweigh ignoring the problem. Aside from the moral obligation that every company ought to have towards the safety and well-being of those who work for them, the fact is that failing to address problems until they become publicized, either via traditional media or through the far blurrier prism of social media, they are likely to find themselves in the middle of a very public outcry with little room for maneuver.
In addition to this point, a failure to ensure a safe workplace for all can severely dent their ability to hire the best staff. With websites such as Glassdoor enabling current and former members of staff of almost any business to note how amazing or toxic a workplace is, an organization can’t remain quiet if it wants to keep its current staff from leaving or to attract top-quality candidates to keep its operations growing. So the question arises, what can a business do to ensure they keep their compact with their employees active and therefore avoid a hit to their reputation.
How Can A Business Develop Solutions To Boost Workplace Safety?
There are an almost unlimited number of ways in which a company can cultivate a culture of workplace safety, but the following points are perhaps generic enough to apply to most industries:
- Conduct a risk assessment: This is arguably the first step that any organization should take, as it highlights current issues (as well as previous ones) and enables them to move forward with genuine solutions that make a difference.
- Invest in training programs: It’s not just about generating an employee safety handbook and calling it a day. You have to create regular training sessions and ensure that your managers follow through with them.
- Encourage a safe atmosphere and an open-door policy: By encouraging safety from the get-go, and making everyone feel safe to report any instances of unsafe work practices or workplace bullying, you can develop an environment that can sustain its safety record and brand integrity.
Workplace safety isn’t merely about ensuring your employees are safe and that you can reduce costly sick days (although that is arguably the main reason), but also to ensure your brand remains respectable to your customers. By understanding where your current flaws lie and figuring out policies that work in real-world citations, you can foster a workplace where your employees feel valued, and your customers are happy to spend their money with you.
