A skilled responder can minimize the consequences of injury and direct the company to an appropriate reaction to the incident. Changes in equipment and facilities should be used as opportunities to advance safety. For example, the company now uses water-jet technology for cutting steel, reducing the exposure of employees to both metal fumes and noise. Small-group safety meetings led by supervisors are more productive than plantwide safety meetings. Nothing can replace the safety attitude of each employee, and the final goal of a safety program must be to instill and encourage this attitude.
Workers are a major asset, and their health and safety affect the bottom line.
Georgia Tech's no-cost, confidential consultation program, sponsored by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has assisted some 400 small Georgia manufacturers annually since its inception in 1978. Seventeen Georgia companies tested the tool. Title III occupational safety and health pollution prevention risk management the impact of a firm's products on the environment. A graphical scoring of responses to several hundred questions indicates a company's level of environmental management and compliance. The tool also will provide information resources.