Stay Safe: Protecting Our Team Members with Improved Safety Protocols

Killer Brownie® is creating a safe place for team members with the new Health & Safety Program.   

At Killer Brownie®, it’s vital to ensure the safety of our products as well as the safety of our team members.  

Workplace injuries are common in many industries, including the manufacturing space. In 2022, 2.3 million non-fatal workplace injuries were reported to the U.S. Department of Labor (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022). 

“Team members can feel safe and appreciated knowing they have a safety program in place, knowing that they can go home each day to their families unharmed.”

Katherine Yates, Senior Operations Director

In this blog post, we’ll discuss our new Health & Safety Program, how it builds on our current protocols, and how we’ve made safety a team effort to make people feel valued at work.  

Going Beyond Safety Expectations 

We needed a dedicated professional to flesh out the program and include it in day-to-day company operations to get our safety program off the ground. So, we brought Sophie Ross on board as our Health and Safety Supervisor.  

“With [Killer Brownie’s®] rapid growth, we realized that [a Health & Safety Program] was something that needed to be formalized,” Sophie said.  

Creating a formalized program streamlined our safety processes and ensured we complied with local, state, and federal safety regulations. We followed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines to the letter, following their lead to protect our team and improve efficiency. These standards include but are not limited to, ensuring measures regarding machinery, protective equipment, and electrical safety are in place. 

“We [developed] a process to help mitigate risks that includes elimination, substitution of the hazard, engineering and work controls, and personal protective equipment,” Sophie explained.  

In our Health & Safety Program, we’ve improved our safety communication and implemented processes to ensure every team member is knowledgeable and well-informed on our protocols. We’ve expanded our safety training to include yearly training for all team members and new hires, and we’ve created a dedicated safety committee to conduct weekly meetings on potential hazards and improvements to the program.  

Safety Has a Place in Killer Brownie® Culture 

Health and safety are important factors in maintaining efficient operations at Killer Brownie®; ingraining our new program into our culture allows for greater team involvement and participation.  

We created training initiatives to get the entirety of the Killer Brownie® team involved in the Health & Safety Program and teach people to see these enhanced regulations as a natural part of company culture. We began hosting company-wide safety meetings to share information, team huddles to disseminate safety reminders, and safety walks to ensure no hazards were overlooked throughout the workday. 

Most importantly, we wanted team members to play an active role in creating a safe environment. They are the idea generators, especially when maintaining and improving our safety procedures.  

“They’re the ones working with the equipment and on the floor each day,” Katherine said. “They notice when problems come up before they are an issue.”   

Through this streamlined Health & Safety Program, team members are given an active voice in their safety, helping us go above and beyond federal regulations to make Killer Brownie® as safe as possible.  

Killer Brownie® is a Company That Values Its Team 

Our Health & Safety Program improves our current safety protocols. It allows us to exceed OSHA regulations with the active involvement of team members. Streamlining our safety communications and auditing our processes will enable us to build a company where people can feel safe at work. 

“We want people to come work for a company that values them, takes care of them, and creates a safe environment for them to work in,” Katherine Yates said.  

We are constantly improving our safety processes to create an environment where people can grow; that growth begins when people feel safe and appreciated.