If you’re not familiar with the world of health and safety, a quick Google search can easily overwhelm you with a myriad of models, methodologies, and templates that all promise to help you and your business have a “streamlined” approach, effectively building your health and safety strategy further.
So, what if there was a simple-to-follow method that could be a good starting point for all businesses and industries, cutting through the noise of all these promises?
Thankfully, there is.
One tried-and-trusted method which has stood the test of time is the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle. By following this approach, not only are businesses of all sizes able to plan, implement and improve their health and safety systems they are also able to build maintain high quality health and safety management systems.
So, what is the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, and how do we utilise it in our health and safety strategies?
Plan
The first step of the PDCA cycle is to set policy and define the goals and expectations of the activities that you will be undertaking to solve a problem or process. When applied to health and safety, this step allows the business in conjunction with the H&S team to identify and analyse any problems or opportunities to improve the systems.
When planning, certain things should be considered:
The steps and discussions you take during this stage of the cycle will directly inform the next stage, which is…
Do
The meetings have been held, the ideas discussed, and the goal is clear. So, what’s the next step? What is it we exactly do?
We can begin to implement the Plan that we made in the first section of the cycle. The objective is to engage employees, clearly communicating what is expected and needed of them (and yourself!). Allocating the necessary resources, we have found from the planning stage is also crucial, and we should always seek expert health and safety advice (that’s why we’re here).
There are several ways we can achieve this, and some of these can involve.
So, when we have begun to implement proper Health and Safety practices into our H&S management systems, the next thing for us to do is…
Check
In order to see whether what has been implemented has been effective, we need to monitor and report on this. If we only rely on reactive monitoring, such as accident reports or sick leave, then we will never have a true indicator of just how effective the systems have been. Although you can learn from reactive monitoring, it is always better to have a proactive approach so we can be best placed to prevent incidents from happening.
Ways we can proactively monitor our Health and Safety Systems are:
When we have all this information, we are then able to…
Act
When our H&S system is in place and we have checked it’s effectiveness, the next thing to do is act on everything we have learned. What did we do well, and what are things in our management system that we still need to improve on?
The review process could involve such things as:
The end goal is to have a circular process, the whole point of which is to repeatedly plan, do, check, act on H&S systems, with continuous improvement built in. The whole process repeats itself and by doing so our H&S management begins to become more informed, streamlined, and effective, with the added benefit of ruling out redundant processes.
At Project Health and Safety Services, we specialise in the arrangement of preventative Health and Safety management systems. Offering expert guidance and support to businesses looking to implement and improve their H&S systems. Our experienced professionals can offer tailored solutions to meet your specific needs.
Together, we can create a safer workplace for you and your workforce. All you have to do is make the first step.
Contact us at 0141 471 6266 or at info@projecthss.co.uk to being your Health and Safety journey.