To achieve success in workplace safety, all levels of management must be convinced that accident prevention is of paramount importance and an essential part of their job. Top management should know the basics of accident prevention, and then monitor safety activity to know when such activity is going well or falling short. They should be willing to provide leadership through written statements of safety policy that are reinforced through personal contacts with mid-management, supervisors, and workers, and through personally conducted audits of safety program activity. Top management's interest in accident prevention must be sincere and set a good example because mid-level managers and workers who must implement such programming can and will sense this attitude. A leader must be everything that he desires his subordinates to become.
People think as their leaders think.
People act as their leaders act. Management policies regarding overtime, vacation, benefits, and so forth are typically well documented. The basic elements of workplace safety programming are of primary importance. These policies and the responsibility for their implementation should be thoroughly documented.