A safety program is the practices, training and records that prevent injury at work.
What an injury costs
The direct cost is the claim, which raises workers compensation premium for years afterwards through the experience rating.
The indirect costs are larger and rarely counted: the lost hours, the work reassigned or turned away, the replacement's ramp, the investigation, and the effect on everyone else.
What a program consists of
Written procedures for the hazards the trade actually has, rather than a generic document.
Training on those procedures, recorded with dates — see training and certification.
Protective equipment supplied and its use enforced. Supplied and not enforced is worse than not supplied, because it establishes that the rule is optional.
Vehicle and equipment inspection on a schedule.
Incidents recorded, including near misses. Near misses are the cheapest information available about what is about to happen.
Why the records matter
In an investigation or a claim, an undocumented program is treated as absent. Contemporaneous training records and signed acknowledgements are what demonstrate it existed.
Regulatory obligations
Workplace safety is regulated federally and by state, with requirements varying by trade and headcount, and including recordkeeping and reporting duties. The specifics belong with someone who knows the trade and the jurisdiction.
The cultural part
A program only works where reporting a hazard is safe to do. Where raising something is treated as complaining, hazards stop being reported and the program becomes paperwork — which is also how it fails in a claim.