Why Is a Safety
Stand Down Important?

If you are not aware of what a Safety Stand Down is, it is simply a pause at some time during the work day to allow time for management, safety, supervisors, or a combination of all of the above, to discuss an important safety and health topic.

A Stand Down serves as a special emphasis on the current safety and health activities at your workplace. It is a good way for you and your internal team to focus on a particular site-specific hazard or potential risk for injury, and to perform activities around that risk that stand out. This is an effective way to raise employee awareness of the hazard and of how to mitigate the risk.

Tips and Strategies for Holding a Stand Down

• Do not wait until an incident or accident to consider a Stand Down. It can be used to add emphasis to situations or conditions at any time.
• Keep the Stand Down short and to the point, and allow for interaction.
• Have a call to action, or what we refer to as Education to Action. For example: as a result of the Stand Down, we are expecting that you check your work areas for fall or trip hazards and fix or report them immediately.
• Ask which areas carry significant risk in your workplace. Those are your Stand Down topics.
• Stand Downs are typically used to emphasize a specific risk, but they can also cover items such as employee mindset. A common topic we use is: Is your mind in the game?

Leading Causes of Injury in Manufacturing

For example, in the manufacturing and related industries, the leading causes of injury are as follows.

• Overexertion and back injuries
• Falls on the same level, including trips and slips
• Struck by object or equipment
• Caught in equipment or machinery, including cuts and lacerations

Leading causes of injury obtained from the Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index, 2020.

Where SSCI Can Help

• MiltSafe® Safety Talks, short, ready-to-deliver talks that give your Stand Down a clear topic and a call to action.
• Safety Performance Review, to identify which site-specific risks deserve the emphasis first.
• Remote Workshops, live sessions your supervisors can attend without leaving the job.

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