In addition. the annual review process should have a safety component that the contractors employees can be measured against. Any merit, wage, or salary increases should be heavily weighted on the employee's ability to meet these specific measurements, which could safety include the OSHA Recordable Frequency Rates or some other proactive, measur able safety activity or criteria that can be applied to this process. Probably the most important aspect of safety is that all employees should be given the authority to carry out safety Anyone has a right to shut down an oper ation if are known safety hazards there that have not been addressed; the contractor will stop and address the safety issues that have been identified. Finally, having a good safety culture must be considered a condition of employment. A contractor with a good safety culture not only requires safety, but demands that all employees "live and breathe it." Just saying that they have a safety cuture isn't good enough without all the employees actively working to make safety an integral part of the job process.
A formal safety program with a working field safety manual requires written procedures, specifications, and engineering that documents safety requirements and details how employees wil work to a specific standard of safety. This program should also be behavior-based, since it has been shown that approximately 96 percent of all hazards are related to the unsafe acts of people (while only 4 percent are due to unsafe conditions). With a great deal of the construction workforce being Hispanic, safety manuals need convey information in a manner that will promote understanding of complex ideas. Pictures and demonstra tions of work tasks are often more effective than written documentation. Having the information translated in both English and Spanish is also important if the contractor truly intends for the program to be understood by all employees in today's diversified workforce.