How to ‘Sell’ Forklift Safety to Employees

Your business can have all the safety programs, inspection requirements, and forklift operation rules in the world but they aren’t going to mean a thing if you don’t have buy-in from your employees.

The best way to create a safer work environment is to create a culture of safety. And the only way to do that is to convince employees that working safely is in their personal best interest.

There three ways to show workers how forklift safety benefits them: Physically, financially, and productively.

Health Benefits of Forklift Safety

When workplaces enact and enforce safety rules such as driving forklifts below posted speed limits, using horns and other warning devices to create awareness, and using spotters when carrying oversized loads, it reduces the risk of accidents and the potential for injury.

Unsafe workplaces are hazardous to the health of the people who work in them. When workers understand that working safely is in their best interest, they are more likely to follow the rules willingly and less likely to take shortcuts. Identifying the physical consequences of working unsafely is perhaps the biggest motivator for employees to work safely.

Financial Benefits to Forklift Safety

Illustrating the financial benefits of forklift safety is more challenging but not impossible. Companies prosper when there are fewer costly accidents in the workplace. But so do the people who work there.

When businesses spend less money on things like insurance premiums, workers compensation claims, and hospitalization for injured workers, they have more capital for things like salaries, training, and bonuses. Tying safety to performance by rewarding workers financially for safety is an excellent motivational tool.

Productivity Benefits to  Forklift Safety

When accidents happen in the workplace, production typically stops so the injured can be tended to, damage can be cleaned up, and everything can be put back on track. All this downtime affects productivity. And when operations are non-productive, it hurts everybody from consumers to ownership to employees.

Showing workers that productivity benefits them is simple when you put it in practical terms. Downtime due to accidents caused by poor safety practices means lost wages, poor employee morale, and higher turnover. But safe, streamlined operations are good for workers and management alike.

The best way to create a culture of safety in any workplace is to show line level workers how following safety protocols benefit them directly.

Safety rules are only useful if people follow them. And when you can show people that following the rules helps them physically and financially and boosts their productivity, they will be more willing to do so voluntarily.