Looking for a safety management program that will lead to a self-sustaining safety culture?
The Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) does just that.
SHARP is aimed at smaller companies that need more help with their safety programs.
It’s offered through federal and state OSHAs (the requirements in each locale may be a bit different, so check with your state).
SHARP focuses on three components to build a successful safety and health management program:
- Operational (find and fix hazards in the field and the facility)
- Managerial (programs, policies and procedures), and
- Cultural (how we work).
SHARP process
To achieve SHARP status, an employer must go through a set process.
In the first step, the company drafts a SHARP commitment letter in which it agrees to:
- conduct a comprehensive survey of all operations
- involve employees
- correct hazards, and
- develop a written safety and health program.
The next step is a comprehensive consultation with a representative from federal or state SHARP.
The consultation includes:
- records review
- safety program review
- safety committee evaluation, and
- hazard assessment.
Next comes action planning and goal setting.
This is an outline of where you are in your safety program to where you’d like to be.
A company should set up a continual improvement process for its safety plan, using Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act.
Follow-up consultations are also a part of the SHARP process.
After developing and implementing its action plan, the company requests a follow-up assessment.
If all the conditions are met, the company then qualifies for SHARP.
If some of the conditions aren’t met yet, the company goes back to the action plan stage and works through it again.
Conditions to meet
In Oregon, a company must receive a sufficient rating on all 47 elements in the Safety and Health Assessment.
Also, all safety, health and ergonomic hazards identified in reports must be corrected or addressed.
The last requirement is that the company have an incident rate below industry average or on a downward trend.
Success stories
Oregon OSHA’s SHARP program has produced many safety success stories.
Georgia Pacific went 10 years without a lost time injury. The company’s incident rate is 72% below its industry average.
Marvin Windows & Doors reduced its incidence rates and workers’ compensation costs. The company also increased employee involvement in safety.
Duro-Last’s (roofing company) successful completion of SHARP led it to the next safety step: qualifying for the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). During a 15-year period, Duro-Last had only one recordable injury.
(Adapted from a presentation by Mark Hurliman, VPP/SHARP Program Coordinator, Oregon OSHA, at the VPPPA’s Next Level Safety 2021 conference)
