A worker is injured on the job every seven seconds. That means that every seven seconds there is a reason for a potential future trip to the emergency department, a potential future surgery, or even a potential future funeral.
You and your company don’t want to have to worry about lawyers, courtroom battles, financial loss, or the loss of valued employees. Keep reading to learn how to practice workplace injury prevention.
Keep reading to learn about how to protect yourself
1. Hire Enough Staff
It seems like every day we hear workers complaining about understaffing. Whether its an understaffed nursing home or an understaffed office, having fewer employees than needed can be dangerous.
You need to be sure that you have enough people to spread the work out evenly. You don’t want someone trying to take on a job that they aren’t trained to do and hurting themselves in the process. They could also overwork themselves trying to do more than one person’s job and pull a muscle or sprain an ankle.
2. Perform Regular Physicals
If your staff is no longer physically fit enough to do their job, you’re asking for trouble. Many employers only conduct physicals when staff is first hired.
However, physical condition fades over time and you should be ensuring that your workers are safe by making them take regular physicals. This could save someone from a heart attack on the job.
3. Educate Staff
Your staff should know about safety measures and understand what could happen if they aren’t followed. Be sure to take a moment during regular meetings to praise staff for good safety precautions while correcting harmful practices.
Your human resources personnel should also be able to draw up a pamphlet or spread the word about new safety measures.
4. Create a Safety Plan
Every company needs a safety plan that outlines what to do when certain situations like a fire arise. Go over this plan with your employees and make sure that everyone understands what to do in case of an emergency.
You don’t want anyone left behind if a true emergency takes place. Your company could lose lives.
5. Inspect Company Vehicles
Company vehicles may seem like they should be the least of your worries, but they are truly important. They carry your employees to work sites and other venues.
You should make sure that your company vehicles are properly maintained and capable of carrying your staff safely.
Surprisingly, many companies skimp on their work vehicles. This causes numerous accidents and other on-road problems. If you’re a worker who’s been a victim of this or any other accident, you should look into choosing the best personal injury lawyer.
6. Require Protective Wear
If your employees are working at construction sites, laboratories, or other dangerous places, you should look into getting them the best protective gear out there. You should never leave your employees to fend for themselves when presented with dangerous materials or dangerous working conditions.
You need to require that your employees wear protective gear when working in dangerous conditions.
If your employees are refusing to wear their protective gear, ask why. Perhaps it isn’t comfortable, doesn’t work, or simply isn’t the best. You should make sure to ask your employees about what they think will protect them at their worksites.
7. Research New, Safer Practices
There are always new findings coming out about new work practices that have been proven to reduce injuries and fatalities. You should keep up with these.
Whether it’s a new prevention strategy or a new kind of protective equipment, you should make sure to give your employees the best of the best. You don’t want to leave your employees with the equipment in the worst condition. This could do more harm than good.
8. Encourage Orderly Workplaces
Messy workplaces can cause many injuries on their own. Your employees may be tripping over things or having to navigate mazes of work materials. This could end in a broken bone, a twisted ankle, or any other number of injuries.
If you enforce an orderly workplace, you’re bound to see a reduction in injuries, fatalities, and frustration.
Your workers want to be able to walk around without tripping. They’ll thank you for enforcing a more organized workspace.
You never know when a worker could trip over a piece of wood and land on a box of nails. Ouch!
9. Avoid Taking Shortcuts
With every single policy and practice that you put in place, you should make sure not to skip any steps or take the easy way out. We understand that safety measures are expensive. However, they are necessary and can actually save you money in the long run.
If you’re worried about how much safety measures cost, just think about how much that lawsuit from your worker will cost or how much your worker’s funeral will cost. It’s a grim thought process, but it’s true.
Putting safety precautions in place now will save you millions later.
10. Uphold Safety Measures
You have to uphold any safety measure that you advertise. You can’t leave your workers to their own devices.
Check-in on them and investigate workplaces. If they aren’t following a procedure, ask why.
Your employees may think that it isn’t useful. They may not have the proper equipment. Whatever the reason, you should aim to fix it and assure them that you are thinking of their safety in the long run.
Your employees should come to understand that you’re placing all of these rules to protect them in their workplace.
Future Workplace Injury Prevention
We hope that you’re excited to implement all of these workplace injury prevention strategies. We’re sure that there was a thing or two that your company wasn’t already practicing.
Remember that every employee is to be kept safe. Constantly preach safety rules even if it may seem annoying to the staff. This will keep you free of a lawsuit and a lost life.
For more business advice like this, check out the rest of our business blog.
