Workplace Safey from the Top-Down A Change in Responsibility

This article appeared in the August 2025 issue of MiMfg Magazine. Read the full issue and find past issues online.

Understanding management’s role in a workplace safety program is crucial to upholding quality values from the top-down. Both employers and employees play a part to ensure compliance, but it is the employers’ responsibility to be knowledgeable safety representatives for the benefit of the entire company.

On 4/1/25, Washington announced that it would reduce the workforce of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). With this change in mind, we need to know how to ensure workplace safety is a top priority.

The common phrase used regarding proactive safety in manufacturing or construction is that you are working towards a “culture of safety.” There is a lot of discourse surrounding what this means or how to attain that cultural standard. Many people seem to think that it comes from how safety-oriented your workforce is but that is only a byproduct of a quality safety culture. The most important thing to realize is that safety is not just something for your employees to understand but also for your management team to display in both words and actions. 

Robust safety management systems need a top-down management style. Thinking of the government as “top management,” the CEOs and plant managers would be the team members that take the information and directives that are cascaded down to them. The core values of the government will be reflected by the CEOs. Safety needs to be at the forefront of all processes and functions. This comes from management displaying a deep understanding of safety standards and pushing those ideas down to everyone involved on the job site. Without this drive from top management, the rest of your employees will only consider safety in discussion rather than in action. 

Cross-functional involvement is a tool that can expand the culture of safety into places you never considered. If corrective action is needed at a specific workstation, leadership needs to involve the station operator. This small act of involvement shows the operator that management is open to their suggestions, has the best interest of the community in mind and is safe-driven. Listening is great, but it is important not to stop there. If it requires quality corrective action, implement it and recognize the employee to the rest of the staff. If they do not have quality corrective actions, it is entirely possible that the team needs to have a better understanding of the safety program.

Ensuring that the training courses are interactive and applicable to the workforce’s tasks can help facilitate understanding. Before the team can recognize risks and solutions, they need to be trained. Here, cross-functional involvement helped the workforce find their stake in the safety culture based on the words and actions of the management staff. 

With this change to NIOSH in mind, business owners need to ensure they are up to date with policy and procedure changes and communicate these changes from the top-down. It is up to the employer to promote safe practices for the benefit of their employees. We have a responsibility to our community to uphold the health standards which have been set, and to implement sound processes that mitigate risk to the best of our ability.

About the Authors

Jackson and George Khoury are co-owners of Safety Brothers, specializing in workplace training and compliance solutions in the manufacturing and construction industries. They may be reached at 517-719-5750 or jackson@safetybrothersllc.com.

Safety Brothers is an MMA Basic Associate Member and has been an MMA member company since May 2025.