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culture that encourages employees to keep safety top of mind. We look at various data sources to figure out which specific safety ini- tiatives to address (e.g., slip and falls). Specifically, we review our loss runs for frequency and severity by injury type, solicit employee feedback, and keep abreast of National Ski Areas Associa- tion (NSAA) and Ski Areas of New York (SANY) initiatives. Spreading the Safety Message Since we have a lot of seasonal staff, the committee focuses on finding a variety of methods to deliver and reinforce our messages and initiatives, including: • Low-tech flyers posted at time clocks. • “Toolbox talk” handouts , one-page flyers for department managers that cover specific, seasonally appropri- ate safety topics for weekly “toolbox talks” with employees, and a sign-in sheet to document employee atten- dance. • An employee newsletter , printed weekly in winter and biweekly in summer, that includes a safety mes- sage with employee photos to help engage readers (e.g., a message about PPE featuring photos of employees wearing appropriate gear). • Standing meeting (e.g., staff meet- ings, mountain ops meetings, etc.), where department leaders are encour- aged to incorporate safety messaging. • A pre-season general orientation ses- sion, where each year, committee chair Bob Piede delivers a short overview of Holiday Valley’s safety culture and the initiatives for the season ahead. The philosophy is that by build- ing a strong safety culture among staff, we’ll reduce the risk of incidents overall. To that end, the specific items we focus on and how we communicate them are second in importance to finding ways to talk about safety at every opportu- nity. Employees are encouraged to be mindful of their own safety and that of their coworkers. We want to teach our employees good safety fundamentals so that they can think for themselves in the varied and sometimes unpredictable sit- uations they encounter on the job. Trans-
parency about losses and near misses reinforces that expectation. Support from our workers’ comp carrier strengthens these efforts. The carrier offers lots of great resources at no extra charge. For example, they send a loss control representative to collab- orate with us on self-directed depart- ment safety inspections. They’ve also conducted an OSHA 10 course for our employees, a voluntary 10-hour training program that covers common workplace hazards, safety measures, and employees’ rights and responsibilities provided by an OSHA-authorized trainer who cus- tomized the topic list to the needs of a ski resort. Additionally, our carrier offers a comprehensive online safety resource database with a wide array of “toolbox talk” handouts and training tools. We’ve also made a small investment in a paid loss control consultant, who has helped us make action-specific goals. For example, we’re currently working on a training program for first-line supervi- sors to help boost the flow of informa- tion between the front line and upper management. The safety committee has sparked real cultural change and has been instru- mental in improvements that have led to fewer of our team members going home injured and saved the resort significant premium costs. Fewer employee injuries also means reduced non-reimbursable costs—things like the time a manager spends documenting an incident and following up, the costs of finding and training a replacement for the injured employee, or the possibility of overtime when a department is short staffed due to injury. In sum, Holiday Valley’s safety committee is an investment that contin- ues to pay remarkable dividends. Self-directed department safety inspections are conducted regularly by safety committee members with the help of a loss control rep.
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