Safeopedia Q&A - What is a Stop Work Authority

Question: What is stop work authority?
Very important question to understand and important to spread to your employees and make sure that they understand that they have the authority to be able to stop work anytime they deem it as being unsafe. Remember, one of the important things that we want to get across to employees that they are truly responsible for their own safety. Managers and business owners are accountable for keeping people safe, and part of that is giving them the tools necessary to drive safety. And one of those is stop work authority.
You want to get it into your employees and workers minds at any time they deem something unsafe, they stop work immediately. Not only do they have the power to do this, but you want to make sure that anytime they see something unsafe, they see it as an obligation to stop work and address the safety concern before moving forward.
You know, I've seen this used successfully in so many different environments. I remember a large manufacturing facility in Monterey, Mexico, with high-speed production lines where the employees knew that if they saw something unsafe, they could shut down the production line, then let the supervisor know. And this was in reverse of some other manufacturing facilities I'd seen where they would have to get the supervisor on the phone before they had permission to shut down their lines. Again, in this facility, the workers knew that if they saw something unsafe, they could shut the line down, then called their supervisor, the safety manager, and address their concern. That is awesome.
So once again, stop work authority is making sure your employees understand that they not only have the right to shut down work for identifying something that's unsafe, but they have an obligation to do it as well for their safety and the safety of coworkers.
So until next time, Bryan McWhorter was Safeopedia. You've got safety questions. We've got answers.

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