A safe environment for workers is safe for business.
Everyone wants to have a safe workplace where they can work without any risk. But that could not still become a reality for all. Workplace injuries are common around the globe.
According to the National Safety Council of America, a worker gets injured every 7 seconds that makes 4600,000 every year and the number is rising every year. So we cannot ignore these infographics. Personal safety must-have adhered at all workplaces.
Considering this risk, organizations try to secure their employees through different personal safety programs. Types of such programs are corporate eyewear program, hearing-protection program, and employee food safety programs, etc.
The fortunate thing is that most of these injuries are preventable. By following a standard safety protocol at every workplace, employees and the management can create a safe work environment.
Common Workplace Injuries
Typical injuries that occur at the workplace are the following.
Overexertion
This is the most common workplace injury. This injury happens when workers use extra energy to do physical activity. Due to this injury, people feel dizziness and even become faint. They experience dry mouth, dry eyes, nausea, tiredness, and joint pain.
Slips and Falls
Many workers fall or slip while doing an activity at work. They mostly fall from a lower or higher object or they even slip from it. For example, a person slips when he/she enters the slippery floor of another office. People can get a serious injury like leg/arm break, or a minor accident.
Hit with an object
At work, we see different objects of different sizes and shapes around us. We sometimes get hit with/by an object. As a result, we fall on the object or get compressed by the object. Due to this contact, people get a minor or even major injury.
Muscle Strain
This injury occurs o workers who lift heavy objects at work. Due to the continuous lifting of different sized objects, they bend many times in a day which leads to muscle strains. This injury also brings out joint pain.
Industries with the Highest Number of Injuries
These workplaces bear the highest number of injuries.
- Essential Services like Police, firefighters, medical rescue.
- Transportation includes shipping, moving, and public and private transport.
- Manufacturing includes food production, product manufacturing.
- Maintenance deals with support services to an already developed product/ project.
- Construction is itself a mega-industry with a lot of injury risks.
Creating a Safe Workplace
Management and workers can establish a safe workplace by cooperating. Here are some of the effective tips for companies to create a safer environment.
Review the workplace
The first step toward safety is to review the workplace. It’s the responsibility of management and the workers to analyze their workstations. Find any hazard out there. Find any mechanical/ electrical or any other fault at the workstation. Report to the management immediately so it can be straightening.
After reviewing the whole office, management must improve all the places as per the safety standards.
Conduct a Pre-recruitment medical assessment
It’s better to conduct a medical examination of all the employees before they are hired. If any employee has any medical condition, it would be easier for the company to provide a better workplace suitable for his/her physical/ medical status. This standard has been implemented by many organizations and it has excelled in the organizations’ growth and performance.
Safety Training to Employees
All the employees should be given first-aid and other basic safety training so they can tackle any emergency at work. For example, if workers in the construction industry are well-trained to do first-aid medical treatment, they can save their or their fellows’ lives if any injury happens during the work.
So training is not all about business goals, growth, and KPIs. Personal safety is also part of employee training. Surveys have shown that companies giving safety training to their employees yield better work results than other companies.
Establish an Emergency Response System
Even if we establish a workplace with minimal work dangers, we aren’t sure about it. Work injuries can happen anytime and anywhere. So organizations must build an emergency response system in their work premises. Every employee can use this system in case of any emergency. Maintenance of the emergency system must be done regularly so it can work well on the time.
Feeling the need of the hour, OSHA has made it mandatory long ago to build a workplace emergency response system at every workplace. It has successfully saved millions of lives.
Corporate Safety Programs
Large companies affiliate with other companies to provide safety assistance to their employees. Such an agreement is known as corporate safety programs. These companies offer personal safety equipment and training to the employees of the organization. Some of the companies working in the US are Eyeweb safety, safety gear pro, and Ion Science, etc. There are also numerous companies working in each state of America.
So, if you want to have better performance from your employees, make them feel safe at their workstation. Create a safe and secure workplace by adopting the latest OSHA safety regulations.
