Every year, millions of workers get injured at work or contract a work-related illness. When we add hundreds of death at the job annually, you start realizing just how bad things are. Luckily, accidents at work don’t just happen, as they are often the result of mismanagement or the lack of care on the side of either the employers or the employees.
If you are able to identify the risk factors early on and get the workers to adhere to strict guidelines, you would be able to prevent workplace injuries from happening. In fact, here is a shortlist of the 5 most effective ways to ensure your employees’ health.
Mark the most dangerous areas at work
Working at a construction site is definitely more dangerous than working in an office but there are some parts of a building site that are more dangerous than others. Working at height, for example, requires extra caution, as more than 10% of all workers who lose their lives in Australia die from a fall.
That is why each workplace, whether it’s an ice-cream stand or the building site of a skyscraper, should have clear markings in around the space most dangerous to work in. This way, workers would have a constant mental reminder that they should be extra careful at certain places.
Avoid being understaffed for longer periods
The 40-hour workweek wasn’t invented for nothing. Namely, after 8 hours on the job, a worker’s concentration starts to drop significantly, exponentially increasing the risk of injury. Employers are often tempted not to fill empty posts and make the existing staff work extra hours and even cover whole shifts.
In the long run, this approach will most definitely lead to a work-related accident. Just imagine what might happen if you forced a trucker to drive for 12 hours non-stop or left an air traffic controller unattended for the entire duration of his shift! It is sad to see a good worker leave the company but don’t hesitate a second to replace them immediately.
Invest in new technologies
You are probably already aware that investing in safety will help reduce the risk of injury at work. Not only is it smart to have first-aid kids mounted to the wall and safety vests but you are required to do so by national legislation.
However, you should invest in new technologies as well as the more modern the equipment, the safer it is to operate. Take the example of conveyor belts in the iron ore industry like the ones in the Pilbara region (WA). Not only are conveyor belt rollers easier to maintain but their lightweight construction reduces the potential for lifting and pinch point injuries, which were quite common in the past century.
Safety and wellness
Although promotional posters for work safety feature a man wearing a hard helmet, work safety is a much broader term than just protective gear. In fact, more time, money, and effort should be spent on prevention, rather than the consequence of workplace accidents.
Think of it in this way: a “wet floor” sign costs a couple of dollars, while the negligence lawsuit that ensues after a worker slips and injures themselves could result in the company losing millions and justly.
You should invest in a wellness plan but an efficient one. Don’t just hand out free gym memberships that few people are going to use but include trips to spas or mountain resorts in the yearly team building calendar.
Avoid taking shortcuts
Whatever your industry may be, there are proper procedures for every task imaginable, from erecting a building to baking cupcakes. Making shortcuts in the process of making the latter might result in a squishy dessert but if you take a shortcut on a construction site, people could lose their lives.
Once you instruct the employees to skip a step or turn a blind eye to their recursive cutting corners off safety procedures, you are inviting a disaster to happen. Safety protocols, like fire ones, aren’t there because the legislators find them amusing but their task is to save lives and prevent workplace injuries. Failing to stick to them is foolhardy, to say the least.
Workplace safety is important now than it was ever before. Preventing workers from getting injured is not just a moral duty on the employer’s part but the best possible way to avoid possible lawsuits. Investing a few hundreds of dollars into workplace safety can save you millions in the long run. sprunki horror Endless Fun Awaits!
