How to Use a Safety Cross or Green Cross (2024)

Thesafety crossis tool used like a calendar to see safety problems. Some organization use the safety cross to represent employee safety, some as patient safety, and some as both. Below is a simple way to get started with how to use a safety cross.

Step by Step on How to Use a Safety Cross

1.Have a daily huddle or daily meeting.Get together with your team on a daily or frequent basis. Nearly every huddle, especially with frontline operational teams or caregiving teams, should be asking questions regarding safety. Questions include near misses, OSHA recordables, Lost Time Events, adherence to safety standards, and other relevant questions. If you’re just getting started, start out with simply yes/no transactional questions like “Did any safety incidents happen last shift?” As you get more advanced with a daily management system, your questions will become more proactive.

2.Have a team area, like a balanced scoreboard or team board. Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to be complex, it just needs to be an area for the team to keep score, like a cork board, a wall, or other area. You’ll need this to place the safety cross so the team can visually see how they are doing.

3.Identify the standards.Standards may include:

• Green = Safe Day;
• Yellow = Near Miss;
• Red = OSHA Recordable.

The standard isn’t necessarily as important as everyone in the organization agreeing to the standard.

4.Use the Safety Cross Template.Use a template like this template at your team area, a red, green, and yellow marker, and start to use your safety cross! Remember, each number on the safety cross represents a day in the month. If you don’t work weekends, just leave the weekends blank, cross them out, or color them green!