As your business ramps up after lockdown, investing in a COVID-19 health and safety policy now can protect your employees and pay dividends for at least the next few months. Following this guide can protect your coworkers and help prevent another lockdown due to an outbreak – it’s mutually beneficial.

Here, we’ll help you translate the CDC and OSHA COVID-19 guidelines into a plan of action that works for your specific situation, whether you’re looking to assess your current policy or create a new one from scratch.

Implementation Tip – Who Writes The Guidelines?

As the supervisor or boss, you are responsible for the safety and health of your employees in the workplace.

• your experience is valuable in creating guidelines that are tailored to your workplace and your needs

       AND

• your credibility is necessary to create a policy everyone can agree on and follow.

If you are unable to write the COVID-19 workplace guidelines yourself, make sure that you are heavily involved in the process and involve individuals who are qualified and experienced in health, safety, and human resources.

When selecting and building a safety training program, it’s largely agreed that a single system is most effective, especially for tracking. While that’s a top priority, we’ve often found 2 other factors that are overlooked when it comes to effective safety training:

Earlier this week, we discussed the first fundamental reason for having someone on your staff—even if it’s you—dedicated to safety. Having a single point-person fulfill this role is critical to maintaining the clear, consistent communication that optimizes safety among your employees. 

If you’re running an agribusiness, you probably rely on a few key people for their expert opinion or advice, like your vet or crop specialist. Now that you’ve decided to ramp up the operation’s ag safety program, you might be looking to expand that list of trusted advisers to include a safety director or safety consultant.

Running an agriculture operation is hard work. It’s also dangerous work. Every year agriculture finds itself at the top of the list of the ten most dangerous industries in the United States. Little wonder, then, that OSHA has started paying more attention to farms, feedlots, dairies, and other ag operations. And with the cost of OSHA citations increasing, farmers and ranchers simply can’t afford to let unsafe operating practices go overlooked.

Earlier this week, we discussed the first fundamental reason for having someone on your staff—even if it’s you—dedicated to safety. Having a single point person fulfilling this role is critical to maintaining the clear, consistent communication that optimizes safety among your employees. 

Running an agriculture operation is hard work. It’s also dangerous work. Every year agriculture finds itself at the top of the list of the ten most dangerous industries in the United States. Little wonder, then, that OSHA has started paying more attention to farms, feedlots, dairies, and other ag operations. And with the cost of OSHA citations increasing, farmers and ranchers simply can’t afford to let unsafe operating practices go overlooked.