Ensure the safety of employees through shared vigilance

Shared vigilance is an effective way to secure a business.

To effectively prevent occupational hazards, promoting vigilance is essential within a company. Indeed, employees must continuously apply safety measures and follow risk management protocols. For this, it is important to get them to adhere to a safety culture.

Shared Vigilance in Business

Depending on the business sector, the dangers present at the workplace can vary in number. Thus, to reduce the risk of occupational accidents, shared vigilance is essential. Its purpose is to preserve the physical integrity and health of employees. It can be included in HSE training.

Shared vigilance is based on the principle that every actor in the company is concerned with risk analysis. Therefore, for the prevention approach to be effective, employees must feel free to speak on the subject. They should be able to communicate without hesitation with their superiors when they identify a danger. Ideally, this should be done during a safety day.

What is Shared Vigilance?

Shared vigilance involves observing and analyzing a professional space to protect colleagues from all threats therein. It's an easy practice to implement and is based on reciprocity. In other words, when the employer cares about employee safety, the employees will also look after his/her protection and keep him/her safe from dangers.

This action must be automatic in every entity to anticipate occupational diseases, work accidents, and improve hygiene and safety conditions. Every day, company actors are exposed to physical and chemical risks. To better grasp them, the annual prevention program must consider each individual within the structure.

For example, shared vigilance is a good way to limit the risk of falls on a construction site. If the entire team commits to properly identifying threats and reporting dangerous situations to competent individuals, falls will be greatly reduced.

How to get your employees to adhere to your safety policy?

Shared vigilance is more important than ever in companies. It's thanks to it that risks can be spotted earliest and damages minimized. When they adhere to the safety policy, employees will always be alert. They will quickly spot unusual elements in their work environment (a stranger entering a protected area, faulty equipment, non-application of a safety measure, etc.).

Here are some effective solutions to ensure that employees are concerned about safety in the company:

Include All Stakeholders

The Labor Code clearly states that every employer is responsible for the health and safety of its employees. Thus, risk prevention is a major challenge in organizations. Employee involvement in a prevention plan is essential to achieve this goal.

Indeed, the company must listen to their needs. By establishing a smooth communication system, trust will quickly be established. Employees should be able to share their feelings about safety when they perform their tasks.

Social Dialogue

Mastering occupational risks is a complex approach in any company. For total safety to be guaranteed, absolute cohesion is required. Thus, social dialogue is essential to allow everyone to give their opinion on the matter.

Clear Preventive Communication

For greater transparency, it's crucial to implement prevention sheets. Everyone should know and understand the procedures. For this, the employer must ensure that vigilance recommendations and actions are visible in the company's strategic locations.

Enhancing Employee Vigilance in Companies

Here are some effective ways to enhance employee vigilance in companies:

• give examples of suspicious situations: your employees might not necessarily be able to identify a suspicious situation. That's why during training, you should show them some examples (signs of a potential intruder, appliance failure, etc.);
• organize regular training sessions on risk management: during these sessions, teach employees effective procedures such as workplace safety and best practices regarding internet use. Plan periodic training to update procedures;
• work with a risk management company: they are best suited to identify the weaknesses in your security system. They will conduct an audit to examine your workplace and propose training exercises. This way, they'll understand how your employees react to threats and will explain the importance of shared vigilance;
• encourage communication: to make employees feel confident, you need to establish an effective communication system. Thus, when they detect a serious risk, they'll know how to act quickly.

Creating a Vigilance Culture

Certainly, training is a significant step in creating a vigilance culture. However, for employees to adopt new behavior, it really needs to be part of the company culture. For this, it's important to review the entire internal organization. In general, dangers arise because employees are forced to finish a job quickly. This doesn't give them time to check for potential risks.

However, it's crucial for them to prioritize safety, as some mistakes can cost more than a slight delay. By double-checking, they'll already eliminate a significant portion of threats. Moreover, they should also get enough rest. This way, they'll always be fresh and ready to work daily. If they're tired, they won't be cautious enough and might even make mistakes.

Risk prevention, therefore, involves some small investments. Employers and employees must work together to establish shared vigilance and an effective safety culture.

Immersive Factory - Train your employees with virtual reality

We offer various innovative solutions to help train your employees during your safety days. Our VR HSE training sessions are designed to allow them to experience virtual situations to reduce real-world accident risks. Thanks to the immersive experience, they'll feel the dangers as if they were real. This way, they'll change their behavior and protect their health.

We can adapt training content based on your business sector. Thanks to our expertise, you'll benefit from unique programs tailored to your goals. Our tools are modern, fun, and intuitive. We ensure they're easy for participants to use.

We aim to support your colleagues in developing their individual and collective responsibility. This way, they'll react effectively to dangerous situations. This is the key to shared vigilance.