The Importance of an Illness & Injury Prevention Plan (IIPP)

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The Importance of an Illness & Injury Prevention Plan (IIPP)

The foundation to any company or organization's safety program is their Injury & Illness Prevention Plan, commonly known as the IIPP. The more current the plan, the more relevant to the employees.

Companies make three basic mistakes when it comes to their IIPP:

They view the document as an internal one, to be kept in the human resources department.
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They view the plan primarily in terms of meeting OSHA requirements, and believe that if that is done, the plan is successful.

The plan gathers dust. It tends to sit on the same shelf, only being pulled off to add new documents when required.

Bilingual safety training is essential to provide the specifics of performing tasks safely in any workplace. The IIPP can serve the company, and the employees, in a number of ways to reinforce those trainings. One of the distinguishing differences between companies with fewer injuries, and those whose injury rate is higher than average, is the company's ability to convince their employees of how high a priority safety is to the company. More specifically, to convince the employees how high a priority the safety of every employee is to the company, and to the people who manage the company.

Letting employees know that an IIPP exists, that it is tailored to the jobs that those employees perform, and where it is kept, are the first steps to building trust. The document is intended to be available for the employees to use to review safety protocol, company requirements, and OSHA requirements. That purpose needs to be stated and restated to employees during safety training meetings. When bilingual safety training is backed up by a bilingual IIPP, the message is clear that the company is serious about conveying safety information.

Keeping the IIPP updated with changing requirements can be a challenge, but one that pays dividends. If every significant change in company or OSHA policy is reviewed with employees at safety meetings, the employees know that they are part of the process, and that they are expected to comply with the new policies. Giving them the information in a timely manner helps them accept their role in being part of the solution.

While it is certainly true that the IIPP is intended to include OSHA requirements, it is a mistake to limit it to that function. By incorporating company policies, safety training issues, and information and handouts on specific safety trainings, the IIPP becomes much more than that. The more relevant the IIPP, the more likely it is that employees will understand that safety is a high priority to the company, and needs to be a high priority to them as well.

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