Most respondents (42 per cent) said they have an annual budget for health and safety. About 28 per cent said their safety budget is tied in with another department’s budget. About 18 per cent indicated they do not currently have a safety budget.

“The budget is for the daily operation of our Safety Division, which includes salary, professional development, etc; but it excludes the purchase of PPE, services, etc. for other divisions and departments,” explains one Reader Panel respondent.

One safety manager says OHS spending is tied into specific works. “There is a H&S department corporately which maintains own budget; but also each site/regional office has H&S budget tied in to project/site.”

Notwithstanding the economic difficulties and increasing personnel layoff that many organizations are facing, health and safety seems to be doing well, as most respondents report budget increases in OH&S over the last four years.

About 42 per cent said they have seen their OHS budget actually increase in the last four years. However, 23 per cent have experienced the opposite, saying that their budgets have decreased in recent years, despite a general increase in OHS requirements. Twenty-one per cent said their budgets remain unchanged.

“As the saying goes, if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. Well in the last 2 years, the number of employees were down, now that we have hired more employees the budget has shrunk because we didn’t need much in the previous years,” comments one safety manager.

For some, OHS cost cutting was focused on certain areas. “Spending is down for items such as travel for safety, more conference calls etc. Training, equipment, etc. has maintained the same levels of spend.”

“New workers are not getting the attention they need,” comments another respondent.
Half of the Reader Panel respondents say health and safety programs are unchanged despite general cost cutting initiatives within their organization.

Still, many have found themselves having to cut some expenditure in OHS because of the financial difficulties their organization is facing. A small percentage, about eight per cent, are facing the prospect of unemployment.

“I might still be out of a job soon - BUT my skills are in demand even though I may have to take a pay cut. I have job offers already just based on rumours of downsizing,” comments one respondent.

Another respondent shares some of the areas they have reduced spending on. “So far, cut programs include the Wellness Fair and Flu Vaccine Clinic.”

“The full-time H&S manager has been replaced with a seasonal H&S coordinator,” says another respondent.

One safety manager is optimistic. “We are producing full-out with no employee reductions.”

When asked which programs our safety managers are willing to cut as a consequence of their company facing financial turmoil, most of them (81 per cent) were willing to cut spending on external OHS consultancy. Going to health and safety conferences and tradeshows are next on the chopping block with 65 per cent saying they can do away with it. Safety incentives or reward programs are also on many people’s list of programs to cut, when push comes to shove.

Very few (5.3 per cent) were willing to cut costs on safety training, and even fewer (2.6 per cent) would want to cut spending on safety equipment purchases.

One respondent summarizes their cutback strategy. “Safety is number one and we live this without the need for incentives and rewards so we can’t cut dollars there. We have not yet begun to cut back on safety equipment and supplies although we have stopped using outside vendors for training and consulting.”

“We do not support or require a safety rewards program,” says another.

Health and safety training came out as a top priority in the organization and an area where safety managers are not willing to cut spending on.

Close to 80 per cent of the Reader Panel respondents view training as the most important program that should not be compromised even when faced with budget cuts. Safety equipment purchase comes out as a far second, with 13.2 per cent.

One respondent puts this in perspective. “Properly trained and empowered people are safe, productive workers.”

Many of our respondents are learning to adjust to the economic situation and are finding more creative and cost-efficient ways to continue to promote safety in the workplace. We ask the Reader Panel respondents how they are coping with the economic challenges and here are some of their responses:

“I [personally] started buying less ‘disposable’ items in favour of higher-end products which can be cleaned, inspected and reused or recycled. I had a bit of resistance at first but my expenditures are actually lower overall.”

“Have been focused on KT Lean Office principles, Covey’s 7 Habits, industry best practice learnings and implementation at the field level over the last 20 years and just continue to apply.”

“You cannot cut back on safety so all are more involved in the training than before, less external training and more is being done internally.”

“Through offer of service at conferences to obtain a discount to attend them. Utilize the knowledge and experience of frontline employees and supervisors to help the development of prevention strategies and tactics.”

“Mental wellness is a big challenge. Keeping positive focus is the key message.”

“Keeping my eyes on the opportunities posted and ensuring that my job is secured by exceeding the expectations of the organization.”

“Maintaining the course - Assessing, measuring, training, rewarding, correcting and planning.”

“Being short on staff and time, keeping up with the requirements is about as much as I can accomplish.”

“Managing one day at a time. Remaining lean helps facilitate maintaining the current staffing level during temporary work shortages.”

“Very challenging, it’s a fine line to draw – reducing injuries cost money. The company realizes we cannot afford to cut into training as knowledge and education are the key components to prevention. We do not want to end up back as the reactive team rather than the proactive team in HSE.”

“Used the web for more info sharing, DVDs for staff to view at home, staff input really appreciated and acted on.”

“Well, it is hard because you know the budget is not there and there is still a lot of stuff to be done.”