What Can HR Do to Prevent Insider Threats? - TalentCulture

What Can HR Do to Prevent Insider Threats?

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Every day, businesses contend with all sorts of threats. Like it or not, these risks have become a fact of organizational life in the modern digital world. While some dangers come from external sources — like cybercriminals — insider threats are also surprisingly prevalent. In fact, insiders are the biggest risk some companies face.

Fortunately, many HR teams are stepping up to play a critical role in locating and mitigating these dangers. To learn more about these threats and how HR can help prevent them, read on…

What Are Insider Threats?

Anyone who currently or previously worked for an organization can pose an insider threat. Employees, contractors, business partners, and others can put your company or staff at risk. These instances include intentional and unintentional attacks that are physical or digital in nature (such as cyberattacks).

Organizations are feeling more vulnerable lately, and these concerns are not unfounded. In fact, 60% of companies say they experienced at least one insider threat during the past year.

Why Do Attacks Happen?

Insider threats can develop for various reasons. A member of your workforce may be struggling with a health condition, financial challenges, family issues, or other personal problems. Business changes can also trigger an attack. For instance, organizations are likely to be more exposed during a reorganization, a merger or acquisition, or as the result of staff layoffs.

However, unintentional threats can arise during daily work activities, as well. Often, when people are anxious, fearful, unaware, or distracted, they may not rely on security best practices. This can open the door to phishing attacks or data breaches that inadvertently harm your organization.

For example, in 2019, 885 million personal accounts were compromised when systems at First American Financial Corporation accidentally leaked customer data. Also during that same year, a third-party data breach at WhatsApp exposed 1.5 billion user accounts.

Although insider threats can occur anytime, multiple warning signs usually build up in advance. Behavioral indicators like these deserve attention:

  • Is an individual refusing to participate in mandatory security audits or training activities?
  • Is the individual threatening staff members or your company in social media posts?
  • Do disputes with colleagues and managers occur frequently?
  • Has disciplinary action been required — suspensions, demotions, or removals?
  • Are personal difficulties apparent? (For example, obvious frustration from work stress, financial issues, or other problems.)

Types of Insider Threats

It’s important for HR professionals to know about common types of insider threats. Here are a few scenarios to keep in mind:

  • Workplace Violence
    Any physically aggressive acts or threats that harm on-site employees or company property. This includes intimidation, hazing, assault, or harassment.
  • Property Theft
    When employees or others steal company devices, equipment, data, or materials, especially assets involving proprietary information or national security.
  • Sabotage
    Damaging, destroying, or modifying company property to harm employees, customers, business allies, or the organization overall.
  • Insider Fraud
    When someone changes, removes, or uses company information or systems for self-gain, including insider trading or embezzlement.
  • Accidental Insider Threat
    An unwitting oversight or operational negligence that harms colleagues, customers, or the company. This includes actions that lead to unintended security breaches, phishing attacks, or lost/misplaced confidential information.

5 Ways HR Can Help Prevent Insider Threats

HR can play a key role in preventing these threats throughout every stage in the employee life cycle — including hiring, ongoing performance management, job changes, and offboarding. Here are five ways HR professionals can minimize these issues:

1. Conduct Thorough Background Checks

Smart organizations take every precaution to anticipate and mitigate insider threats from the start. Before extending an offer to any potential employee, conduct an extensive criminal background check and verify the candidate’s resume by calling listed references.

Careful screening can identify past behavior, such as workplace violence, fraud, or criminal actions. If red flags arise, the interview process is a perfect opportunity to clarify and understand the story behind any situation.

2. Implement Mandatory Security Training

Newly hired employees should participate in security training and activities. This helps educate people about cybersecurity risks and gives you a forum to clearly explain company policies and best practices. It’s also an opportunity to reinforce your company’s commitment to security as a top priority.

3. Define a Baseline for Normal Behavior

By working closely with IT leaders to determine standards, you can specify behavior that is normal/acceptable versus abnormal/unacceptable. Establishing this baseline enables your IT teams to monitor network activity, so they can identify potential dangers. When incidents are detected, IT can alert appropriate departments for necessary action.

It’s worth noting that when employees believe policies are overly strict or unfair, they may choose not to comply. This only increases the likelihood of insider threats. To avoid this, be sure you clearly communicate relevant standards and explain why those standards are in place. Also, be transparent about how IT teams monitor behavior, and what kind of actions they consider unacceptable or out-of-the-ordinary.

4. Foster a Supportive Workplace

Employees should feel comfortable and supported at work. A toxic environment where people are regularly embarrassed, belittled, humiliated, or forced to work under excessive rules only increases the potential for insider threats.

Successful workplaces cultivate a culture of trust, respect, and support where employees feel comfortable discussing personal or work issues. In this type of environment, managers and supervisors take discretion seriously.

Employees should know that co-workers with behavioral issues will be helped and not punished. This ensures that everyone will feel more comfortable sharing concerns about others.

For this reason, consider implementing an employee assistance program where anyone who is struggling can receive support and counseling. Make it a priority to help anyone who is at risk, and also address any grievances brought to your attention.

5. Terminate Employees With Respect

When employees depart, it’s vital to make the offboarding process as smooth as possible. Regardless of whether an employee chooses to resign or is terminated, thoughtfully managing the offboarding process can significantly reduce security risks.

If termination is required, proceed with care, so you preserve a sense of dignity. If possible, conduct the termination meeting in a room that lets the employee leave the premises quietly, without public embarrassment or shame.

Also, plan to remove the individual’s access to devices and systems as quickly as possible. In addition, remember to collect all company property and review nondisclosure agreements to avoid any misunderstanding about rules the employee previously agreed to follow.

A Final Word on Avoiding Insider Threats

HR plays a critical role in minimizing exposure to insider threats throughout the lifecycle of every employee. Proper planning, precautions, and proactive communication can make a tremendous difference. Above all, focus on creating and sustaining an environment where employees feel respected, trusted, empowered, and supported.

Managers need a toolbox for the "post-everything" era. Here are ideas for elements that organizations should include - by Ron Ricci of The Culture Platform

Managers Need a Toolbox for the “Post-Everything” Era

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TalentCulture Content Impact Award Winner - 2023
Sponsored by The Culture Platform

What tools actually help managers manage their people? That’s the most important question every organization needs to ask itself as the workplace enters the “post-everything” era. Post-pandemic, post-work-from-home, post-boomers, post-engagement-software’s-failure-to make-a-difference, post-wondering-if-AI-will-affect-work. You get my drift.

I believe this new era will be defined by how well organizations adapt their approach to managing people, as well as the responsibilities they put on managers’ shoulders.

Inside the “Post-Everything” Manager’s Toolkit

“Post-everything” has created a new starting line for managers. Expectations have changed. Most importantly, the number one reason why individuals leave a job today is a lack of growth opportunities. In fact, more than any generations in history, Gen Z and Millennials are ready to quit their current job for another role that promises better opportunities.

This is why managers need to focus on setting clear expectations. But here’s the catch — it requires human-to-human communication.

I’ve managed about 5,000 people in my career. My on-the-ground experience taught me that no two people are exactly alike. Career planning is a process of ongoing communication. It’s a give-and-take conversation about strengths and weaknesses, about roles and responsibilities, about goals and metrics, about performance and results.

As every manager knows, it’s remarkably easy to make mistakes when setting expectations. Being consistent is hard. But it’s even harder if your organization is also inconsistent.

Think for a moment about your career. Ask yourself this question: Have you ever seen an employer dedicated to providing a single, consistent, unified process that helps managers set expectations about career opportunities for team members? Is this happening where you work now?

The “Post-Everything” Process

Of course, a toolbox is only as good as the process it uses.

I’ve spent a decade talking to hundreds of organizations around the world about the role of the manager. Along the way, I’ve repeatedly heard that if we want to help managers set clear expectations, inconsistency is the biggest problem to solve.

Inconsistency comes in many forms. It may come from a lack of formal goals or goals that are continuously changing. You may see it in a failure to establish metrics or metrics that mean different things. It could be about reorgs or reductions in force, weak communication, managerial changes, or language differences. The list goes on and on.

At its heart, inconsistency breeds distrust in management’s ability to be accountable and follow through on an employee’s career growth. These triggers cause people to move on in search of better opportunities. And that’s why I think organizational inconsistency is failing managers today and is the real reason employees are so disengaged at work.

3 Steps For Success

I’ve come to believe that every unified process to help managers consistently set clear expectations must include three essential steps. Individually, each step is helpful. But linking all three end-to-end is the key to empowering managers, especially at scale. So this is my call to action for leaders:

1. Embrace a Common Vocabulary

Communicate with common terms. Think of company-specific languages like V2MOM from Salesforce or standardized vocabularies like OKRs. A common organizational vocabulary eliminates communication gray zones or ambiguities. What words do people use in running your business? You need to define the meaning of those words. For example, what does strategy mean to your organization? How do you distinguish a priority from a program? What is an initiative, and how does that differ from a project?

2. Emphasize Shared Goals

To be clear about which activities matter to operational execution, develop and publish shared goals. These goals are the way people can connect their job role to what will be rewarded. Shared goals serve the important role of distinguishing what’s important from what’s urgent when communicating. Do we care about growth? Or do we care about efficiency? Shared goals help managers align job roles to what the organization actually values.

3. Focus on the Standard Metrics

Are you measuring everyone’s success the same way? A single taxonomy of metrics sets up what employees really want — a consistent accountability system. If people can’t communicate with facts about their performance and results, it leads to an insidious way of getting ahead: relying on who you know. And we all know what that leads to.

Alignment Matters in the “Post-Everything” Era

A common vocabulary, shared goals, and a single system of metrics. Together, they form an end-to-end process that minimizes inconsistency when setting expectations.

Yes, this process is more difficult than buying a software tool. It requires leaders and managers to do the hard work of agreeing on specific elements of the process. But that said, it’s no different with Six Sigma or Lean/Agile methods. And the results are worth the effort.

The “post-everything era” is defined by what the best employees want — growth and advancement. This era demands end-to-end alignment. That means every employee in an organization should be able to align their job role to current and future opportunities. It is hard work for any manager, but it’s the new “post-everything” reality.

Want to Manage Well? Alignment is the Answer

End-to-end alignment requires human-to-human communication up and down the organization. It’s why I believe employers have been getting engagement wrong. It’s upside down. Instead of being engaged, employees want their leaders and managers to be engaged in conversations about their individual career success.

The core premise of The Collaboration Imperative, which I co-authored about Cisco’s best practices, centers on the idea that any great productivity leap forward or new strategic direction requires the alignment of process, culture, and technology. In other words, it may be tempting to depend on a tool for this, but technology alone cannot substitute for a complete process.

Organizations already put significant weight on managers’ shoulders. In the “post-everything” era, it’s time to lighten the load. It’s time for leaders to carry some of the weight by giving managers what they need — a process that consistently and systematically eliminates inconsistencies in expectation-setting. Let’s give managers the toolbox they really deserve. Your people are depending on it.

I want to give you a head start with this process. Send an email request to me at TheCulturePlatform@gmail.com and I’ll send you a PDF of Chapter 4 from The Collaboration Imperative: Creating Commitment to Shared Goals.

Cognitive-decline-at-work-Employers-Are-You-Prepared?

Cognitive Decline at Work: Employers, Are You Prepared?

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Cognitive decline is a tricky subject. It can be caused by a variety of factors – from natural aging to hypothyroidism to Alzheimer’s disease. Sometimes, the symptoms are treatable and reversible. But in other cases, cognitive struggles indicate the onset of a serious underlying illness that will eventually become debilitating. Either way, working alongside a person with cognitive issues can be difficult. It’s okay to admit that.

But what can you do to support someone who suffers from increased confusion, memory loss, a shorter attention span, or other cognitive challenges? And how can you minimize safety risks that could harm that individual or others on their team?

Putting People First

Let’s start with mindset. Sweeping generalizations and business rules aren’t helpful when addressing specific cases of cognitive decline. Mental capacity is a sensitive issue. Therefore, tact and prudence are of utmost importance when discussing this topic.

Every situation is complex and unique. It requires awareness of an individual’s industry, organization, job responsibilities, performance history, and work context. Therefore, it makes sense to respond in a personalized way.

Nevertheless, employers can’t deny broader societal factors that are making conversations about cognitive decline much more important and more commonplace.

Coming to Terms with our Aging Workforce

We’re all aging. It’s a fact of life. But now, significant generational shifts are beginning to shape the future workplace. For example, Americans are living longer, and more of us are working later in life.

Although I’m a fan of encouraging older people to participate in the workforce, it’s time for organizational leaders to address age-related cognitive decline. By becoming more educated and cautiously protecting all employees, employers will be better equipped to support our aging workforce.

Here’s why this is so important. Recently, the Harvard Law School Bill of Health newsletter published some staggering statistics in its article, “Managing Cognitive Decline Concerns in the Workplace:“

  • By 2034, about 77 million U.S. residents will be senior citizens. That’s about 21% of our nation’s population.
  • After age 65, the risk of Alzheimer’s disease doubles every five years. And nearly one-third of people over 85 have this disease.

Of course, Alzheimer’s is only one cause of cognitive decline. However, because so many people are touched by its ripple effects — family, friends, and work colleagues — it illustrates how devastating cognitive decline is likely to be as Americans continue to age.

Soon, most of us will know, love or work with someone touched by Alzheimer’s or another form of cognitive decline. So, how can we prepare to handle this professionally, legally, and with grace?

The Impact of Cognitive Decline at Work

When cognitive changes impact reliability – and even trust – it becomes a larger issue for leaders and teammates. Memory loss, difficulty with multi-tasking or problem-solving, and even personality changes can upset and distract colleagues.

It’s important to treat this topic with compassion. But that means care and concern should also extend to co-workers who are directly experiencing these effects. Keep the door open for discreet conversations about their concerns, and invite input on how to improve the situation.

SHRM offers multiple recommendations in its article, “Coping with Cognitive Declines at Work.” These are some suggested priorities for employers:

  • Conduct a Safety Assessment. The need for this is more obvious in certain lines of work, where rapid response is critical. However, it can be a factor in other professions, as well. There are multiple ways to determine if a person is safe to work.
  • Engage Employees. Non-confrontational conversations about specific concerns are an opportunity to find out more about what’s going on and open lines of communication for future dialogue.
  • Keep Thorough Records. Take notes that detail your concerns. Repeated instances of missed deadlines, significant memory lapses, or behavior problems may be helpful down the line. Stick to the facts and steer clear of age-related commentary.

Legal Considerations

Let’s start at the top. There is no reason to draft a policy that defines workability or retirement readiness. Mandated retirement policies are illegal.

Larger organizations with legal counsel are well aware of The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. However, if you’re a leader at a new or smaller company, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the basics of this law.

Also, if you need a refresher, be sure to take the time to revisit these regulations. Understanding the legal parameters of hiring, firing, and pushing retirement based on age is a savvy business move. It’s worth your while because the business risks of acting outside the legal lines can be significant.

Cognitive testing is also dicey from an ethical and legal perspective. Harvard says, “Testing older employees who have no job performance deficits, but not testing younger ones, violates the core principles of the ADEA.”

And that’s not all. It also violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This law permits employers to test employees only if the assessment is job-related and consistent with business necessity. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, testing is permitted only if it is “triggered by evidence of current performance problems.”

So, to avoid claims of age discrimination, will employers want to administer cognitive tests to all employees? Let’s not go there, either. It triggers a slew of concerns related to ADA, Title VII, and other discriminatory issues.

Lastly, it’s important to consider the tremendous medical advances that have led to predictive tests and markers associated with cognitive decline. However, it seems logical to leave those medical procedures to employees’ families. That said, if an employee brings these findings to your desk, be prepared to align your discussion with ADA regulations.

Solutions Start With Education

You may wonder why I’ve been investigating this topic. To be honest, it comes from a personal place. Someone dear to me was deeply concerned about a coworker’s cognitive decline.

I am sure I’m not alone. More and more of us are crossing paths with people who display cognitive changes or have been diagnosed with a related condition. Some of you have been caretakers for those who have experienced cognitive impairment.

This is a triggering and heart-wrenching topic. It’s delicate. But it’s important. And if you are an employer or people manager you’ll likely find yourself affected by it more frequently, going forward. My best advice? Educate yourself.

Upon exploring this topic – and then writing about it – I’ve felt some anxiety and dread. But knowledge is power. And fortunately, there is an abundance of reliable information at our fingertips.

It’s important to be curious and forward-thinking about a topic like this. It’s equally important to understand the law, as well as the needs of people who may be unsure and fearful about their own diminishing cognitive capabilities.

If this is new territory for you, don’t be afraid to ask questions, read up, take notes, and admit that you are learning. But watch your language, mind your approach, and make decisions carefully. Err on the side of caution and care. And remember that kindness is always a good move.

Resources

Alzheimer’s Association: This organization offers many resources, including:
10 Early Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer’s

CDC:
Subjective Cognitive Decline: A Public Health Issue

Mayo Clinic:
Mild Cognitive Impairment

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission:
Mental Health Provider’s Role in a Request for Reasonable Accommodation at Work

Workplace Strategies for Mental Health (via Canada Life):
Dementia Response for Leaders

How can leaders help employees feel safe at work. Check this advice from an expert on how to build a speak-up culture

Does Your Staff Feel Safe at Work? Here’s How to Help

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The Problem

Can you confidently say that 100% of your employees feel safe at work? For business and HR leaders, ensuring the health and safety of everyone on the job is imperative. But sometimes, reality has other plans.

Fraud, misconduct, harassment — even the most prepared organizations may face these challenges at some point. That’s why it’s vital for employees to feel free speaking up. Whenever issues arise, a speak-up culture can help you respond more swiftly and effectively. It also helps employees feel safe, which in turn, leads to increased overall wellbeing and productivity.

Over the years as a risk management consultant, I’ve discovered that ensuring people feel safe at work is no easy feat. But the following practices can help your organization establish and maintain a sense of psychological safety:

The Solution

1. Start With a Comprehensive Anti-Retaliation Policy

A zero-tolerance anti-retaliation policy can act as a baseline for all employees — including C-suite executives — to guide expectations around retaliation in the workplace. But what exactly does anti-retaliation really mean in an HR context?

In organizational settings, retaliation presents itself through actions such as marginalizing or shunning people, impromptu negative performance reports, and regularly assigning unwanted work shifts to targeted individuals. Illegal retaliation can even go so far as firing someone for speaking up. A zero-tolerance policy ensures that any person responsible for retaliatory behavior will be terminated.

Rather than disciplining people who speak up, managers should be encouraged to address employee concerns with understanding and act swiftly to investigate and resolve the issue. Anything less, and employees may be too scared of possible retaliation to report a problem.

The policy should clarify key factors, such as:

  • Specific types of conduct that should be reported,
  • How your organization facilitates the reporting process,
  • Actionable process steps, and
  • How this policy complies with local laws and regulations.

The zero-tolerance principle should also apply to discussions about workplace discrimination allegations, because this can result in unintentional retaliation. Finally, to ensure that your policy reflects new needs as your organization grows, review your documentation periodically and update it accordingly. 

2. Implement Anonymous Reporting Tools

An anonymous reporting system is a broad term for tools such as help lines and intake forms that make it easier for employees to report misconduct. Anonymity is vital because it adds a layer of protection that further shields those who speak up.

Organizations can invest in an in-house reporting system or outsource this process to a third-party provider that specializes in managing and tracking reports. An outsourced system helps employees feel safer, because they know others in the organization won’t be able to undermine or dismiss their concerns.

Also, implementing multiple reporting tools can be beneficial. Creating multiple reporting avenues encourages employees who need to report an issue or incident to speak up in a way that is most comfortable for them.

For example, in addition to offering a helpline, some organizations also provide an online intake form in various languages so it’s accessible to more people. Often, reports submitted through online forms contain sensitive information that some individuals may not be comfortable communicating out loud. Or a safe space may not be available where people can speak confidentially, so the online form serves as a trusted alternative.

Of course, implementing these tools is only the first step. It’s also important to provide ongoing education, training and monitoring to ensure that everyone in your organization understands the policy and how to use any reporting tools you provide. To ensure widespread adoption, this educational process must be a top-down effort across your organization. It must also serve as a cornerstone when onboarding each new member of your workforce.

3. Train Managers in Conflict Resolution

As an executive or HR leader, you’ve most likely been involved with conflict mediation as a fundamental aspect of the managerial role. In fact, 85% of U.S. employees have reported some level of conflict at work. You can help mitigate this by ensuring that lower-level managers develop conflict management and resolution skills. This can support a more cohesive strategy for spotting issues sooner and getting to solutions quicker, so you can avoid having to deal with situations after they’ve reached a boiling point.

Understanding the root cause of a conflict is often the first step in resolving these issue. The most common conflict triggers are workplace stress, clashing egos, lack of support, or poor leadership. There is room for middle-level management to identify potential issues before they escalate, engage with staff, reduce conflict directly, and evaluate how they can improve workflow management to better support their teams.

Disputes between managers and employees will still need to be handled with bias-free executive attention. However, the more conflict management and resolution training managers receive, the more likely employees will believe to trust “open door policies.” Ultimately, this can reduce conflict and increase well being across your teams.

4. Ask Employees for Feedback

You won’t know if people are satisfied with your efforts to help them feel safe at work unless you ask. That’s why you’ll want to find a viable method to gather feedback and channel key insights to decision-makers. By periodically gathering and acting on feedback, you can continuously improve employee satisfaction and retention over time.

But keep this in mind: Research says 78% of employees are willing and happy to participate in workplace feedback surveys. Yet, only 50% think their input will lead to meaningful change. This means you’ll want to be sure you close the loop if your survey reveals gaps or weaknesses in your policy or process. Otherwise, you could undermine your entire strategy.

When People Feel Safe at Work, Wellness and Productivity Follow

The ideal solution combines clear guidelines with anonymous reporting tools and conflict resolution training for managers, in conjunction with employee feedback surveys. Each mechanism works in tandem with the others to create a more holistic approach to maintaining well-being in the workplace. When thoughtfully implemented, this approach can increase trust and confidence across your organization.

Once you implement a zero-tolerance policy alongside anonymous reporting tools, training and feedback, you’ll be able to address areas of concern more proactively. Over time, you can expect to improve productivity and retention because you’ve invested effectively to foster an environment that supports workforce wellness and safety.

Workplace Safety

Workplace Safety Reporting – How to Streamline

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In pursuing health and success for a business, safety compliance is critical and we understand why. Monitoring injuries and potential hazards can help your workplace combat risks and costly fines. It can also make employees feel safer, but understanding where to begin isn’t always easy.

Maintaining workplace health and safety reporting is a practical challenge for HR teams already balancing a lot on their plates. Plus, fluidity and growth in the compliance industry over the past few years have added some complex obstacles.

Reporting requirements are likely to keep shifting. The more aware you are of changing regulations, the better prepared you will be to meet the uncertainty of maintaining health and safety in the workplace.

Meeting Regulations Around Employee Health and Safety

There are no two ways about it: Being compliant in the workplace is a must for companies that don’t want to welcome risk. For starters, companies that don’t adequately or accurately report workplace incidents could incur financial penalties from regulatory bodies or have legal action taken against them. What’s more, the public could form the opinion that your company doesn’t protect its most valued assets: employees.

Being prepared to confront the evolving nature of health and safety concerns can put you at ease when an unfortunate incident does occur. But how should you go about it practically? These three elements should be part of your action plan to maintain health and safety in the workplace:

1. Make record-keeping a habit.

Employee health and safety is something no company can afford not to prioritize. If a workplace incident or mishap occurs, you shouldn’t wait to report or record it.

Getting proactive about record-keeping will save you a lot of time and stress when reporting to the Occupational Safety and Health Association, or OSHA. Track recordable incidents throughout the year and always maintain an accurate count of all information required for the OSHA log. This information can include injury information (e.g., date, body part, location), restricted days, lost time, the annual average number of employees, and their total hours worked.


This data can be complicated and time-consuming to gather in one fell swoop, so establish a practice of thoroughly documenting every injury, incident, and safety audit as it occurs. Doing so will also put troves of insightful safety data in your hands. For example, suppose the numbers tell you that the most common injury in your organization is lower back pain. In that case, you could introduce preventive measures, such as mandatory lunchtime stretching periods or weight limits on packages. The more informed you stay on injury occurrences, the more proactive and supportive you can be about employee safety.

2. Work to reduce employee injuries.

The safest way to make OSHA reporting more efficient is to have fewer employee injuries. Easier said than done, sure, but if you and your team dedicate time to preventing injuries, you might be surprised at the difference. 

Start by removing any unnecessary hazards from your workplace. Then, try scheduling regular check-ins with your employees and taking note of their safety concerns. These conversations can help you shine a spotlight on hazards you haven’t even considered.

That said, actively trying to avoid on-site injuries doesn’t guarantee they won’t happen. A business that works with any risk will have a run-in with OSHA at some point. If you’re unlucky enough to have to report a fatality, serious incident, or complaint against your business, OSHA will reach out to you for additional information.

When it does, you want to be ready to comply with the OSHA reporting requirements. Be prepared to present a record of all nonminor injuries, copies of the safety training provided to employees, and hazard assessments. These documentations also serve to educate your team continuously about safety trends.

3. Categorize staff logs.

When your company diligently maintains accurate safety reports, it creates a buffer against legal action. Reports are verifiable and evidential, and they can help make your case if your business faces a lawsuit.

Keeping timely safety reports is especially useful because many lawsuits happen months or even years after an incident. Preserving documents like associate reports, investigation summaries, medical documents, email correspondence, and photographic or video evidence means you can be ready to inform your legal team when ready.

Your HR network might be complicated, especially right now when contingent workforces are trending. When working with different types of employees (e.g., seasonal, part-time, or temporary employees), make it a little easier on yourself by distinguishing among them. If you’re working with a staffing agency, ensure that they have strong safety processes, prioritize associate safety, manage incident documentation, and oversee workers’ compensation claims.

Making compliance reporting more efficient in your workplace will take some time. Once you have a plan in place, reporting activities should be easier and more efficient. 

Maintaining health and safety in the workplace is critical for your business’s survival. Streamlined reporting will help you stay organized and safeguarded from legal action. Prioritizing health and safety is also a necessary investment in the value employees bring to your company. It can lead to fewer accidents and injuries. It can help keep your teams healthy and ready to perform at their best.