Key actions in implementing your plan effectively

Leaders

Leaders should take positive steps to address human factors issues and to encourage safe behaviour. They need to recognise that the prevailing health and safety culture is a major influence in shaping people’s safety-related behaviour
Make the necessary resources available to successfully implement your plan. These include human resources and specialised skills, organisational infrastructure, technology and financial resources

Keep any documentation proportionate to the complexity of the risks concerned. Keep it to the minimum needed for effectiveness and efficiency
Agree realistic timescales for implementation of any plans with your workforce
Ensure all concerned are clear on their role and responsibilities, and understand the steps they need to take to meet the objectives. Clearly communicate who is responsible, accountable and competent to undertake specific tasks
Demonstrate your commitment to delivery at all levels within the organisation, using a variety of communication channels to engage your workforce in implementation. This can be through visible behaviour, written material and face-to-face discussions
Keep people informed of progress and maintain a focus in the key risks and issues. Use review meetings (or make use of existing internal forums) as a basis for helping to make further improvements
Measure progress of implementation against clear milestones or performance indicators and make necessary adjustments if there is early evidence that requirements are not being met
Recognise contributions and safe behaviours that help create or reinforce positive attitudes and behaviours
Do your arrangements give you the assurance that workers and contractors are following workplace precautions and risk controls?
Make full use of expertise available on safety committees and other forums (where these are in place) to deliver

Involve and consult workers and representatives throughout any implementation, by ensuring you have systems in place that allow workers to raise concerns and make suggestions, eg staff suggestion schemes, online communities, committees etc
Make sure you consider all feedback, take action or provide a prompt response

Ensure the competence of individuals is developed through experience and training, managers are providing coaching and the organisation learns by making use of specialist advice as required
Use the results of progress reviews to feed into future training plans - this helps with continuous improvement and avoids complacency