AWAIR Program

Lots of companies including my own, have very good Safety Policies and Manuals in place. Usually they somewhat mirror the OSHA standards, with the exception of your Site Specific Safety Program. But the thing is, employees know what the rules are, but why would they want to follow them? For their own safety? The safety of their co-workers?

These are some good reasons, but let me challenge you with this. Employees will do what is right when they understand their roles and are forced to accept their responsibilities. This is basically holding people accountable for their actions. Is this a bad thing? Not always. People can also be held accountable for the good things they do.

The state of Minnesota has amended their OSHA act to require employers to develop a written "A Workplace Accident and Injury Reduction (AWAIR)" program. It is not so much a policy on the safety standards, as much as it explains every levels responsibility as it pertains to safety. Like I stated before, once people know their roles, they can be held accountable for their actions.

I have attached a link for your review, that will assist you in developing your own AWAIR program. I have used it to great success, hopefully you will to.

http://www.wnins.com/losscontrol/AWAIR.pdf