Category: Blog

In this article, we will explore safety plans and safety plan templates. We will discuss what they are, the different types, what they include and how to create one.

Further to this we will investigate finding safety plan templates to create your safety plan quickly and efficiently.

So read on below. Click here for a comprehensive Safety Plan Template.

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What is a Safety Plan?

There are many different types of safety plans. For instance, a simple Google search reveals a massive amount of information around this topic.

Check out the numbers below. Is that billions? Looks like it to me.

About 3,040,000,000 results. Wow! Safety plans are certainly something that are important.

A safety plan can apply to many different industries. It can also apply to many different areas.

For example, it could include any of the following;

• Mental health safety plans;
• Construction safety plans;
• Safety plans for domestic violence;
• Health and safety plans;
• Workplace safety plans;
• Emergency response safety plan;
• And the list goes on and on.

So let’s have a detailed look at the different types of safety plans and the content within them. Then we will explore how to create your own safety plan depending on the type you want.

Lastly, we will talk about some of the templates available online – both free and paid.

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Types of Safety Plans

There are safety plans for many situations and events. To summarize, below is a large list of safety plan types that include safety plans from construction through to management of infrastructure.

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Workplace Safety

Workplace safety effects everyone not just those that are not at work. Injuries and accidents have a huge cost to the community, and we all have a responsibility to look after others to minimize the impacts of these events that can be life changing for many.

Not just in high risk industries such as mining and construction, workplace safety covers all businesses and workplaces.

It is the most important aspect of running a business and should be the number one priority for management in any business.

Work Safety Plans, Procedures and Manuals

Typically, a workplace health and safety policies and procedures manual is a document that helps to communicate expectations across any organization. These work safety plan templates assist in delivering safe work environments for all. There are plenty of workplace safety plan examples and template available online, so it really isn’t that hard anymore to implement strict safe rules in your workplace.

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Drill Down for Safety

Let’s drill down and look at all these areas in a little more detail. By the way, it shouldn’t be too painful, so stay with me.

Safety Plans for Events

Where there are large gatherings of people safety is critical. Likewise, imagine how easily it can get out of hand. Just look a t the list of human stampedes on Wikipedia. YIKES.

Safety Plans to deal with large numbers of people are relevant. Generally, these tie in with transport plans and crowd management plans. All relevant to keeping people safe.

Safety Plans for Construction

Safety Plans for construction purposes are complex and associated with WHS (Workplace Health and Safety).

These safety plans are site specific and come come with a large amount of detail and are required by law before site work can start.

Depending on the country and the jurisdiction you live in, Workplace Health and Safety is usually a high priority. Furthermore, protecting people in dangerous roles and jobs is critical.

If you are looking to create a safety plan for construction purposes, there are many options online available to you. In conclusion, there are also free templates available as well as paid versions to assist you in creating a safety plan for your project.

Specific Construction Safety Plans

As mentioned above, in construction safety is critical. Looking after your fellow human being is a core responsibility in anyone’s life. Preventing accidents is of an upmost priority. Everyone should go home after a hard day’s work and deserves to work in a safe environment.

A company safety plan will address any aspects of safety that personnel from the company may experience in their daily work. It doesn’t just have to be construction firms. All businesses must consider safety.

The construction industry is no doubt more dangerous than a lot of industries. Due to the nature of the work, significant machinery and dangerous worksites, safety becomes paramount.

A construction safety plan aims to keep people safe.

It can be created from a template. However, if you are looking for a free download of a construction safety plan, then you may find it difficult to find an appropriate one.

Typically, a construction safety plan word document is the format that most people create their document in. Usually this is a .doc or .docx file format and they then save it as a .pdf. This makes it easy to edit and update quickly.

Other things to consider within a construction site safety plan template is whether it has a demolition safety plan template within it as a separate section or is an additional document. Demolition has its own risks as obviously things potentially are flying everywhere, and safety is paramount.

If you are a managing contractor, then providing a subcontractor site specific safety plan specific for subcontractors on your site is essential to meet government regulations and law in many countries.

Safe Work Method Statements

SWMS or Safe Work Method Statements are a critical part of any construction site. These documents detail specifics when it comes to performing a risky task on site.

It outlines step by step how the task will be completed and identifies risks and hazards that must be addressed prior to the task commencing onsite.

Utilise a safety method statement template to create your SWMS quickly and efficiently. If you are looking for a builder’s safety swms (Safe Work Method Statement), then there are plenty examples available online.

What is Safety in Design

Safety in design is something that has become critical over the last 20 years.

It is about ensuring all aspects of safety have been considered in the design process before work commences onsite.

It is really a checklist process to ensure all consultants have considered safety in their design discipline and documented this process as a record of what has been reviewed and amended.

As part of the design process, typically a safety in design report is completed and sometimes there can be a requirement for a safety in design presentation.

Whatever the process is, using a safety in design report template will save considerable time and effort when completing these tasks.

Safety in design risk assessment involves considering the aspects of the site and the level of risk. These risks are typically rated from low risk to extreme risk and this is graphically represented on a chart included within the report.

Specifically, as an example, a low risk element of a project maybe a small trip hazard in a walkway.

This is something that could be easily addressed with signage or safety markings on the ground. This would help identify the risk to users.

In comparison, a high-risk element might be an accessible area on a high rise building that doesn’t have any fall protection to prevent people falling from a great height.

These are just 2 safety in design risk assessment examples that should be addressed in the safety in design process.

A safety in design template as well as a safety matrix template are documents that assist in completing the safety in design requirements for any project to meet local regulations and law.

Mental Health Safety Plan – Safety Plans for Mental Health

This type of safety plan is for people to use when they are feeling unsafe or suicidal.

They are created so people refer to them to remind them of reasons to live. For example, to look at the good things in life such as family, friends and activities to do when they are alone. Safety Plans also provide strategies to help people reflect on positive thoughts.

These safety plans are personal and it is possible to create one online. Refer to some of the websites available by a simple search if you are looking to create this type of safety plan.

As mentioned above, safety plans stretch also to personal issues such as mental health.

A mental health safety plan template will identify the aspects of a mental health safety plan that are important to be considered as part of keeping safe.

A personal safety plan identifies specific actions to be take in a high-risk environment that a vulnerable person may find themselves in. It provides a step by step instruction to follow in a time of risk.

As an example, this could include something such as a domestic violence situation where a domestic violence safety plan created from a template becomes important.

Mental Health Safety Plans provide security for people to have a little bit of confidence that they have something to revert to should they find themselves in a situation they need to get out of quickly and these plans provide that exit advice they can apply immediately.

Safety Plans for Emergencies

Safety plans for emergencies are prepared for the workplace or for situations where people address an emergency.

They are a written set of instructions to assist in dealing with the situation.

Information within a document like this is usually clear, straight to the point and also provides a list of step by step instructions to follow.

It may list things such as:

• an effective response to an emergency;
• how to evacuate and all procedures associated with evacuation;
• medical treatment;
• communication and testing of emergency procedures.

They are known as an emergency plan.

There are also situations where a safety plan is created and kept in a safe place ready for use for when an emergency occurs. For example in a bush fire scenario.

Safety Plans for the Internet

Keeping people safe online is important as the amount of risk escalates daily. Having a safety plan in place can help to keep people and children safe from predators. Also keeping people safe from scams is important – which are rife.

Safety Plans for Domestic Violence

Also useful in domestic violence situations, safety plans assist people in situations where they feel they may need help. They also help people to feel safer.

They have things such as an escape plan and practical strategies such as improving home security and personal security. These types of plans help people plan for unexpected situations. They are about taking proactive steps to take back control over their life and the lives of their children.

These types of safety plans address all areas of life. This can include at home, in the car, at work or in social settings.

Safety Plans for Infrastructure

Critical Infrastructure Resilience – what big words. However this stuff is important. All communities rely on provision of services including the provision of the most basic needs like water, food and safe transport.

What about the health system, finance system, communications and all these types of services that make up our society? Having safety plans to keep all these things protected makes sense.

It is unlikely you would be producing a safety plan for something like this. Unless of course you are in some government department. And then, they are likely to have their own standards and requirements.

However, these types of safety plans are usually very detailed and include large broad scale principles to protect our infrastructure.

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Safety Plan Templates – Save Time

Searching online brings up a huge list of results regarding safety plan templates.

Types of Safety Plan Templates

The majority of the top results are focused around patient safety. They are also focused around as suicide safety planning. It’s not until page 2 of the Google results do the construction safety plans start appearing.

There are a lot of construction based health and safety templates available. They seem to be very popular and you can purchase these through a number of websites.

However, other types of safety plans and templates are generally less detailed and more basic. These typically are for domestic violence and other types of human resource issues.

There seem to be limited opportunities to purchase templates online for for government base entities for infrastructure requirements and community safe requirements.

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Safe Work a Major Focus for Governments

In countries such as Australia, the UK and the USA, there are organizations that promote and regulate work safety.

Safe Work Australia

Down under in Australia, Safe Work Australia is the organization initiated by the Australian Government leading safe work practices in the workplace. This is to reduce site accidents and these organizations focus on promoting safe work places.

There are also WHS (WHS stands for Workplace Health and Safety) laws and these laws are attempts to create a consistent approach to safety. Typically developed through National Standards and National Codes of Practice .

Safe Work USA

In the US, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration oversea work safe initiatives and have a range of standards, help and resources.

Safe Work UK

In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive is the government agency responsible for safe work practices.

These organizations provide a range of information and guidance regarding employer’s responsibilities, managing risk and reporting obligations. They are a great reference tool to refer to.

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Free Safety Plan Template

If you are looking for a free safety plan template then consider your options online. Below is an image of the results at time of writing.

You can see there are plenty of results that are offering a free template.

However, if you dig down further, the part that is free is usually just to get you interested in spending money on a more complex version which is fair enough for any online business.

You will note however that many governments have downloadable safety plan templates as part of their workplace safety departments so you could start there if you are interested.

Also consider Digital Documents Direct Safety Plan Template for Construction – however this is not a free template.

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Safety Plans for Health and Safety in Construction

So if you’re in the market for a workplace health and safety construction based safety plan template, then there are plenty of opportunities you can find online.

WHS Management Safety Plans

If you are developing a construction based safety plan, there are plenty of things to consider.

For example, what are the duties required with regard to safety of personnel on site? Specifically, for any tasks within the construction work to be completed?

Then other things to consider are managing risks in construction and also WHS management safety plans. There are so many things to consider when you are developing your safety plan for construction.

A Typical Example

For example, let’s consider a typical construction site. On this site it may be a small block of units. The managing contractor sublets all works to subcontractors. The subcontractors need to attend site to complete their work. If the safety of any subcontractor is at risk, the managing contractor can be liable.

It makes sense for the managing contractor to get his safety plan and WHS management plan sorted out. And then to also distribute it to all subcontractors before they can commence on site. Even detailed tasks such as handling materials or picking up heavy objects require guidelines on how to prevent injury.

Clearly a safety plan is going to be a detailed document and something that anybody involved in your project needs to read and apply.

The following are a list of parts of a WHS Management Plan or Safety Plan that you should consider.

Safe Work Method Statements

How about safe work method statements? These types of documents outline how to perform specific tasks safely. These detailed documents list out each step and each safety requirement for each step.

In other words, safe work method statements show workers exactly what is required to keep safe.

Incident Management

What about incident management? Don’t think that incidents may not happen. They may and are you prepared if they do?

Incident management reports, incident forms and all types of documents suitable to manage incidents are also part of a WHS Management Plan.

Signage

Safety signage is an important aspect of a construction site. Do you have the correct signage? Is the signage positioned correctly? Does your signage meet the required codes for clarity and legibility?

All of these aspects must be considered.

Safe Handling and Use of Dangerous Substances

Handling dangerous substances, chemicals and materials is an extremely important part of a safety plan. It is something you need to consider. What are the national standards for storing chemicals and handling dangerous goods on your work site?

Worker Training

Training is about how workers go about their jobs safely. It is critical to ensure safety standards are followed on site. This type of training is important for any field to educate workers on the correct behavior and hazard identification.

Emergency Procedures

Procedures for when an emergency occurs is another aspect of site safety plans and workplace environments. Creation of evacuation procedures, notification procedures, emergency drills and responsible personnel all make up the emergency procedure requirements when creating a safety plan.

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Conclusion, Summary and Wrap Up

So that is a lot to consider don’t you think?

There is a ton of information you need to consider when producing a safety plan regardless of the type. Check out the graphic below for a summary of WHS Management Plan essentials.

So that’s about it for safety plans and safety plan templates. Leave a comment below.

What do you think about safety plans and have you created a safety plan easily or has it been hard work?

Safety Plan Template Download

You can read more about the Digital Document Direct’s Safety Plan Template – < Click the link.