Common Compliance Policy Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Avoid Ambiguity: How Clear Policy Language Can Prevent Compliance Policy Mistakes 

Clear and concise occupational health and safety policies are vital for workplace safety culture. Clear policy language refers to concise, simple, and unambiguous words and phrases in policy documents to convey expectations, rules, and guidelines.  

An unclear policy uses technical terms, jargon, and vague and overly lengthy statements. The risk of unclear policies is that employees may misinterpret or struggle to understand the policy, leading to non-compliance. To prevent this, we recommend clear policy language, which uses defined terms, active voice, and specific examples. 

The Risks of Outdated Policies: Why Regular Review and Updates Are Crucial for Compliance

Outdated policies pose significant risks to organizations, threatening their compliance and overall worker health and safety. Some risks of outdated policies include:

• Non-compliance with changing legislation: Health and safety laws are constantly changing and evolving, and policies must change with them.
• Ineffective management of risks: Industry standards across all workplaces are always evolving due to rapid technological changes that trigger better ways to manage hazards.
• Inefficient use of resources and technology: Outdated policies can lead to inefficient use of resources and technology, hindering organizational productivity and innovation.
• Negative impact on organizational reputation and credibility: When policies fail to adapt to changing legislation and industry standards, it can create a perception that the organization is out of touch, inefficient, or even reckless.

To mitigate these risks, we recommend that organizations prioritize regular policy reviews and updates.

Inclusive Policy Development: How Employee Input and Feedback Can Avoid Compliance Policy Mistakes

Creating a strong workplace safety culture requires more than developing health and safety policies. It’s equally crucial to ensure that employees understand and embrace these policies. One effective way to achieve this is by making the policy development process inclusive and collaborative.

To make policy development more inclusive, consider establishing a diverse policy development team with representatives from various departments and areas of responsibility. We also suggest sharing the draft in a short meeting, email, or printed copy to get employee feedback. If feedback highlights a major issue, tweak the draft as needed.

Effective Policy Communication: Strategies for Ensuring Employees Understand and Comply with Workplace Policies

When implementing new workplace health and safety policies, many barriers to employee compliance can arise. These challenges can include information overload, limited employee attention span and engagement, and a diverse employee audience with varying needs and preferences. Best practices for ensuring employees comply with policies include:

• Know Your Audience: Understand the needs, preferences, and learning styles of your employee audience.
• Use a Variety of Formats: Use a range of formats to get policy information across through both digital and print modes, such as FAQs, one-pagers, or PowerPoints.
• Make it Accessible: Ensure policy information is easily accessible and available to all employees. We recommend having policies available in areas of the workplace with the most traffic (e.g., lunchrooms). If your workplace is remote, pin key information to shared drives or your Intranet.
• Monitor and Evaluate: Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of policy communication by encouraging frequent feedback from employees. This can be done through surveys, suggestion boxes, or online forms. To ensure policies are being implemented, supervisors need get out into the field, on the shop floor, and into workspaces. Assess for yourselves.

Developing effective health and safety policies is crucial for creating a robust workplace safety culture. Unsure if your policies are up to date and using clear language? Our expert consultants have decades of experience writing and updating policies to meet ever-evolving changes. Reach out for a consultation now at info@hspinc.ca.