What Does It Take To Be A Safety Champion?

Finding safety champions isn’t always easy. Sometimes they come from the most unlikely candidates. It could be you, or it could be the person sitting next to you, or it can be someone that you just see on the elevator on your way to your desk. Whoever it is, you’ll know it because of their passion about safety. It is by far the most important factor that safety champions bring to the table.

What is a champion?

Historically, a champion is someone who fights in behalf of another who cannot fight for themselves. Origins of the word “champion” is synonymous with “fighter.”

They are defenders of a cause that is both dear and important to them. They advocate, promote, support, and most importantly protect what they believe is righteous.

Identifying safety champions.

Safety champions are people in your workplace that promotes safety with their actions. They not only adhere to but also promote and take active roles in safety practices at work. Safety champions can be identified by the following attributes:

• • Advocating a positive approach to workplace safety
  • Contributing ideas to help your organisation improve its level of safety
  • Promoting the use of safety devices to reduce the risks of injury
  • Demonstrating through their day-to-day actions that they genuinely care for the safety and well being of their peers
  • Understanding the risks and hazards at work and how to mitigate them
  • Working with management to implement and uphold health and safety policies

No matter their role in an organisation, each employee can become a safety champion by creating an environment that allows the proliferation of safety culture at work.

A safety champion gets excited about the long-term benefits of a workplace safety culture and doesn’t let tedium damper their passion. They’re champions – so when everyone else falls back to the old risky behaviours and unsafe practices, the safety champion pushes them back to safety. It’s not easy changing to a culture of safety but champions persevere and eventually gets results.

These results might not be immediate, but once implemented in an organisation, the payoffs in the long run is significant. You might not know it yet, but down the line, a future member of your organisation is going appreciate the safety culture that the safety champion has implemented. It might have even saved their lives.

Nominate a Qlicksmart Safety Champion.

Qlicksmart has been an advocate of safety for over 20 years, successfully improving and helping healthcare facilities keep safe.  Because of this, Qlicksmart would love to honour people that make the workplace a safer place.

The Qlicksmart Safety Champion Award is open to clinicians, corporate workers, students, inventors, and those that have had an impact on improving workplace safety. Nominate any individual that has shown exceptional work or action to promote safety in their workplace – whether it’s by instituting a new safety policy, having safety educational talks, or implementing a new safety procedure or devices.