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700 Introduction to Safety Management
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Vision and Mission Statements

Your first step may be quite simple, yet it can have a major long-term impact on safety and health in the workplace.

What we do (mission) depends on who we think we are (vision).

Propose that the company include the concept of safety in their vision statement and mission statement.

  • The vision statement lets the employee and customer know who you are by defining the role your company plays and what its basic values are.
  • The vision statement reflects the corporate culture.

One way to understand corporate culture is to think of it as the company's unique "personality" setting it apart from all others.

Sample Vision Statement

XYZ Widgets values its "relationship with customers" above all. To achieve success, we treat all employees as valued internal customers. We respect their ideas, value their work, and provide the resources they need to excel in a safe-productive manner. By doing so, we empower our employees to embody our values when interacting with our external customers.

The mission statement tells the world what you do -- why your company exists, by stating its intended purpose. The mission statement lets everyone know what your company's product or service is; who its customers are; what its service territory is.

Sample Mission Statement

It is the mission of XYZ Widgets to safely manufacture and deliver the highest quality megalithic cyberwidgets to our valued customers throughout the world.

If your company lacks a mission statement, try to develop one and convince management of the benefits that will result from a written mission statement. Now let's take a look at two basic approaches employers may adopt in safety and health program management.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

1-8. The _____ tells everyone what you do and the _____ lets everyone know who you are.