Occupational health and safety professionals across the country face budget cuts that could make training and education more challenging. But service providers and industry observers say there may be ways of making curtailed safety budgets work, even in tough financial times.

CALGARY – The Canadian Society of Safety Engineers (CSSE) has urged safety professionals to maintain safety standards in the workplace despite the economic downturn that’s causing many companies to reduce cost and downsize.

At the opening ceremony of the CSSE’s annual Professional Development Conference, being held in this city this week, CSSE president Art Nordholm told attendees that it’s important to ensure the continuity of their safety systems because the economy will recover.

In these tough economic times it is understandably very difficult to stay positive in the midst of widespread layoffs, home foreclosures and bankruptcy reports. It’s also very easy to lose sight of what’s most important, as families try harder to make ends meet and businesses struggle to stay afloat in this financial tsunami.

If the results of a recent COS Reader Panel survey are any indication, the doom and gloom, fortunately has had very little effect on Canadian organizations’ safety programs, so far. Despite cost-cutting measures, safety remains an important priority among many companies, as evidenced by a large percentage of our survey respondents saying that safety budgets have generally remained at a status quo despite this recession.

But that half-filled glass is terribly in danger of looking half-empty. If this downturn continues to wreak economic havoc and claim more victims, companies could start to lose sight of the future – one that promises an end to this recession – and start making cutbacks that can have lasting repercussions.

A survey saying everything is fine on the safety management side of things is great, but workplace safety leaders must continue to be the advocates and keep the company focused on the prevention big picture. This recession will eventually pass, but companies cannot put safety programs on hold while they wait out the recession. It just doesn’t make moral and economical sense.

It doesn’t make sense morally because the risks to worker safety do not go away in an economic recession or growth. It doesn’t make economic sense, either, because OHS enforcers and prosecutors don’t just let companies off the hook during economic hardships. In fact, the Ministry of Labour would likely be paying even more attention to ensure that companies are not making undue concessions to their OHS programs and policies and putting workers at risk to cut costs.

In these hard times it is tough to stay on course, but we have to. We can’t dwell on the past or mull over our present situation. Rather, let’s stay focused on the future and move forward with our goal of injury prevention and worker protection. In these tough times, our most effective resource will come from our own conviction. Creative and positive thinking can help put things into perspective.

A good friend of mine, Andrew Ballenthin, recently started a very simple but inspiring initiative that aims to beat the recession blues, by encouraging people (through the power of social networking) to tell their good news stories. It’s allowing people and businesses, through a blog that Andrew started a couple of months ago (http://communitymarketing.typepad.com/), to tell their own good news and how they’re turning this recession into an opportunity. These good news stories are reaching over one million online professionals globally and are helping to spread positive vibes in the midst of negative outlooks.

Not a bad idea and not exactly a new concept to the safety community, either. Isn’t that what OHS thought leaders have been advocating as sound OHS policy? Effective safety management involves a positive working environment that encourages people to share ideas and look ahead to a future with no more injuries.

Turning a near-miss incident into an opportunity for risk management and to prevent future mishap, is like acknowledging this recession as an opportunity to let us plan and implement better economic policies for the future.

While nearly half of companies surveyed admit the economic downturn has slowed the drain of employees, that doesn't mean companies are effectively addressing ways to retain workers when the situation improves, according to the latest study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp).

According to the study findings, which are now available to i4cp's corporate members, 47 per cent of polled organizations said the current economic doldrums have had a "somewhat" or "significant" positive effect on employee retention. However, when asked what will happen when the economy rebounds, less than half (46 per cent) of companies said they are concerned about retention to a "high" or "very high" extent.

When it comes to trying to keep employees on board when the economy improves, just 20 per cent of organizations reported they have increased their retention efforts. However, among higher-performing companies, 27 per cent said retention efforts have increased, compared to 17 per cent of lower performers.

Regarding a budget for retention efforts, 23 per cent of companies overall admit they don't have one, while 43 per cent say their budgets have remained about the same. Twenty per cent of higher performers said they don't have a retention budget, while 25 per cent of lower performers admitted they do not have one.

In addition, when employees do leave, the study suggested that many companies may be missing the "why" retention boat. For instance, 68 per cent of companies overall conduct face-to-face exit interviews to learn what led employees to leave the organization, but only 17 per cent take action to address those issues from a "high" to "very high" extent. Among higher performers, 65 per cent conduct exit interviews and 20 per cent take action, while lower performers do so at 77per cent and 16 per cent, respectively.

"It seems that many companies may be dropping the ball when it comes to retention issues," says i4cp senior research analyst Carol Morrison. "They've identified retention as a concern, but they're not willing to fund programs for it. And, they are losing out on opportunities to find out why employees are leaving. Clearly, more attention to retention issues is going to be needed as the economy improves and turnover inevitably increases."

Of those organizations which have a plan in place, 44 per cent of respondents said they don't regularly review their retention strategies and programs. In higher-performing organizations, that number drops to 32 per cent, while 51 per cent of lower performers said they do not review the strategies/programs.

So, how effective are organizational efforts to retain talent? Overall, 48 per cent of companies believe their efforts are "somewhat" or "highly" effective. The employee segments are headed up by senior managers, 56 per cent from a "high" to "very high" extent, followed by employees in critical roles (41 per cent) and high performers, also at 41 per cent. In general, 62 per cent of responding companies said they have made an effort to identify specific talent to retain, and HR was cited by 30 per cent has having primary responsibility for that task.

The Retention Strategy and Execution Pulse Survey was conducted by i4cp in November of 2009. The full results of the survey are available exclusively for i4cp corporate members.

With more than 40 years of experience and the industry's largest team of human capital analysts, i4cp is the definitive destination for organizations seeking innovative ways to improve workforce productivity. For more information, visit http://www.i4cp.com.