Some people believe that injuries are to be expected in certain industries; they are just the cost of doing business. Three Oregon CEOs—Lynne Saxton, Matthew Smith, and Steffanie Smith—reject that idea. They considered the number of injuries in their organizations unacceptable and acted decisively to create successful safety cultures. Their stories show what can be done when you make safety an important value.
ChristieCare
Psychiatric residential facility
MARYLHURST and OREGON CITY
When Lynne Saxton took over as chief executive officer at ChristieCare in 2004, injuries had risen to an all-time high.
"ChristieCare's losses were consistently increasing over time," said Paula Jones, SAIF senior safety management consultant.
In the mid-1990s, ChristieCare, a private nonprofit agency, had fewer than 10 claims per year, but by 2004 the agency had more than 60 incidents and 557 time-loss days.
"I knew that we had to put as much value on caring for our employees as caring for our clients," said Saxton.
Falls and back injuries were typical of the hazards experienced by employees, but a few were unique to working with children and youth with extreme emotional problems. Although employees were sometimes injured playing sports with residents, they were also occasionally kicked, hit, pushed, punched, or assaulted.
"I suggested they establish an executive safety oversight committee (ESOC) first of all," said Jones, "and Lynne took that idea and ran with it."
The agency's safety and infection control committee kicked into high gear, working with the ESOC to formalize a safety training program for all employees, as well as a progressive disciplinary program for failing to follow safe work policies. Employee orientation now includes training in the prevention and de-escalation of crises. All direct care employees attend an annual refresher course, and, after an assault or other incident, all employees involved with the incident are debriefed.
To reinforce its safety commitment, ChristieCare also contracted with American Medical Response (AMR) for immediate first aid and assessment following every incident.
Mary Liefeld, residential services director, says that using American Medical Response (AMR) has made a big difference.
"It's difficult to make a judgment about your own medical need," she says. "Having AMR respond guarantees staff's needs are attended to quickly and easily."
"Keeping our facilities in good shape has been critical also," said Saxton, "and our facilities maintenance specialist and chair of our safety committee, Bill Matthews, has done an exemplary job."
To maintain its facilities properly, ChristieCare adopted an "environment of care checklist." Each month, different employees do a complete tour of the facilities, using the checklist to identify any safety problems, which are fixed immediately.
"We have to take care of property issues every day, all year long," said Saxton. "For example, if we have a broken window on a weekend at midnight, we can't wait until Monday morning to fix it. Our board has been very helpful, too, supporting investments in the facilities."
Liefeld and Matthews say the replacement of their old walkie-talkies with "safety radios"—a name staff gave their new professional-grade, multi-channel radios—also helped lower the number of incidents by reducing the number of dead spots and providing clearer sound and more privacy.
"I'm tickled pink," said Jones. "Claims were down to seven in 2009, and they continue to trend in a positive direction."
Read other CEO safety stories | L&M Welding | River Point Farms
Reprinted from Comp News, Spring 2010