Every year in the United States, many work-related accidents occur. Many of these accidents end up having a low impact on an employee’s ability to return to work. However, some 4,000 of these accidents end up being fatal. In most cases, the injuries and fatalities are preventable.
Workplace accidents are problems for both employees and employers. Employees who suffer a work-related accident can find themselves having to pay for expensive medical care and physical therapy. In some cases, they might no longer be able to perform their job duties. For employers, accidents lower morale and invite increased oversight from legal and occupational organizations.
Since workplace accidents are bad for everyone, we should all be doing what we can to reduce their occurrences. Learn the top precautions you can take to avoid workplace accidents.
The first step to preventing workplace accidents is to make sure everyone is aware of the dangers. Since every workplace is different, it’s up to you to know what information your employees need to hear. Below are a few categories of information you can provide.
One reason that accidents happen is that employees don’t know how to do their jobs safely. Every employee should receive safety training when they start at work, plus additional training every year. This provides the perfect opportunity to update your employees on new best practices.
Signs and floor tape are two ways of reminding your employees to be safe. Some signs help direct people’s attention to important things like fire extinguishers and fire exits. Other signs should include procedures, such as how to lift correctly or how to use lockout-tagout systems. You can use floor tape to create driving and walking lanes in warehouses so that forklift drivers and pedestrian workers don’t have accidents.
Emergency action plans help employees know what to do in case of fires and extreme weather, such as tornadoes. For fires, make sure employees know how to exit the building and where to meet up. Someone should also be accountable for tracking which employees make it out safely. For a tornado, employees need to know which room in the building is the safest so that they can take shelter.
Ergonomics is about creating workplaces that make people safer and more efficient. That’s because efficiency and safety often go hand in hand. If a worker risks injury every time they lift a heavy box at work, they’re not being safe or efficient. Below are ways to help redesign workers’ spaces so that they lower their risk of injury and can work more efficiently.
Many kinds of jobs require the occasional lifting of heavy objects, even if it’s just to receive a package. Unfortunately, lifting things with the wrong posture over and over can cause a ton of stress to your back. Make sure all employees know to lift with their legs, not their backs. To pick up a package, they should squat and use their legs to push themselves back to a standing position instead of bending at the waist.
Regardless of whether they have active or sedentary jobs, all workers should take stretch breaks. Stretching helps keep muscles loose instead of tense, reducing the chance of injuries. Even if you sit at a desk most of the day, you can get back and neck pain from not stretching. Make sure to slowly stretch and massage sore muscles throughout the day.
Standing and walking puts a lot of pressure on the soles of your feet. If you do lots of standing and walking every day, you can damage your feet. That’s why it’s important to give workers access to anti-fatigue mats. These are cushioned floor mats that make walking and standing more comfortable. Put anti-fatigue mats at workstations and along production lines to make workers more comfortable.
There are many other precautions you can take to avoid workplace accidents. You can take steps to create a culture of safety in the workplace by taking safety concerns seriously and providing protective equipment. Remember that the way supervisors treat safety issues will often set the tone for how other employees approach them in the workplace.
Being short staffed for a long period is bad for your workers. Since there are fewer people working but the same amount of work, your current staff has to compensate for the difference. When they have more than their usual amount of work to do, it pushes their minds and bodies beyond their limits. While most people can handle doing this for a short time, negative consequences can arise from doing extra labor long term.
It can take lots of courage for an employee to go to a supervisor and tell them about a safety infraction going on in the workplace. Make sure that when employees tell you about problems they face, you take their concerns seriously. Doing so will help create a culture where workers and bosses value safety, which builds trust. Remember that your employees need more than words to feel secure at work.
PPE refers to gear and apparel that workers wear to keep themselves safe on the job. In a warehouse, PPE might include a pair of thick-toed work boots and a high-visibility vest. In other jobs, people might need HAZMAT suits, eye protection, or hard hats. Make sure all employees have access to the PPE they need to protect themselves. Also, do routine equipment checks to ensure that none of the equipment is faulty.
If you’re looking for anti-fatigue floor mats to install in your workplace, you should check out the options at the Personalized Doormats Company. We carry anti-fatigue mats that are of professional quality and perfect for industrial warehouses, production lines, and commercial kitchens.
We also carry a wide variety of anti-slip, heavy-duty entry mats designed to soak up water near entryways. Slippery floors are a common workplace hazard, especially in places like shipping docks where people frequently go outside and back indoors. Our Waterhog mats can hold multiple gallons of water, meaning you don’t have to worry about puddles accumulating on your floors. Contact us today so that we can help you keep your workplace safe from accidents.
