What You Need to Know About Workplace Safety and How to Achieve It

Workplace injuries are probably the most common of all types of injuries, with over 4 million cases a year and 500 cases a day, as the National Safety Council reports. Furthermore, the costs of these incidents amount to more than $170 billion each year. Thankfully, most injuries are preventable. With the right strategy for workplace safety improvement, business owners can avoid such incidents and expenditures, or at least reduce them significantly.

Apart from the fact that it can save lives and spare the owner the sky-high costs, maintaining a strong safety culture at the workplace will also prevent overruns and setbacks. In turn, the business can run smoothly and meet all the deadlines, ensuring customer satisfaction.

What’s more, workplace safety begins with the owner. In other words, as a business owner, you must be the loudest advocate for safety out of everyone and start the conversation. Then, the rest will follow your lead.

Without further ado, here are some tips for improving workplace safety and ensuring employee protection at all times:

1. Avoid Risky Schedules

If possible, try to stay away from night shifts. According to the NSC, incidents are 30% more likely to happen to night shift workers. Aside from that, people who work long hours and have irregular shifts and rotating schedules are at a higher risk of injury than those who don’t. 

After all, you can’t work against the body’s circadian rhythm and not have any consequences for it. We humans are highly capable, but we’re simply not designed to work during the night — we need our rest in order to stay on top of our game. 

2. Don’t Scrimp on Equipment and Training

It goes without saying that you need to make sure your employees know all the safety protocols by heart, as well as how to use the equipment. Aside from rigorous training of new employees, you should consider occasional refresher training programs.

On the other hand, old and malfunctioning equipment, especially that involves dangerous and large machinery, can cause even highly trained and cautious workers to make a fatal mistake, slip, or fall. Thus, you should do regular inspections and ensure every tool and machine is in excellent condition. 

3. Delve Into Workplace Ergonomics

Consider working with an occupational clinician to figure out the weak spots in your current system. They will assess the entirety of the workplace and give you an insight into the riskiest areas, as well as help you find the right solutions for them. Even if you’ve done your best to ensure safety, it’s always good to get a second opinion. 

4. Encourage Safe Behavior

By far the most common cause of workplace injuries is overexertion and fatigue. Although nothing can substitute a good night’s sleep, you should encourage your workers to take short breaks, especially if their work involves a repetitive task. Advise them to take a walk, breathe in some fresh air, and stretch their backs and legs.

In addition, consider rewarding your workers for that, as well as any other exemplary safe behavior. That way, you’ll reinforce it, which will eventually lead to overall better safety practices. 

5. Be Careful Who You Recruit

Another way that you can improve your workplace safety is by hiring competent and vigilant people in the first place. Obviously, employees with such qualities will be less inclined to make mistakes. An HR expert could help you easily identify such individuals. 

6. Provide Safety Reminders for Your Employees

Even if they’ve undergone all the necessary training, your employees will most likely forget some of the information. To refresh their knowledge, you should have regular meetings on safety. Besides, it would be good to provide your employees with manuals that they can always have on their hands and consult when there’s a need for it.

And for the most important information and warnings, you should create signs and place them everywhere around the workplace. Use short, effective phrases and pictograms to grab the attention of passers-by. 

7. Maintain a Safe and Friendly Atmosphere

The satisfaction of your employees is equally as important as their stamina. And much like you would with their physical health, you should genuinely care about their mental health, too. In other words, you should talk to your employees and engage with them, making them feel safe and heard. 

Apart from motivating them to do better work, forming a bond with your employees will encourage them to talk to you. Given their involvement, they can provide some valuable insight into the safety of the workplace, perhaps even point out potential problems that you haven’t noticed before. 

8. Implement an Emergency System

Unfortunately, even with all the preparation in the world, some incidents simply can’t be averted. And when they do happen, your best bet against them is a quick and effective response system. 

Thankfully, with today’s technology, anything is possible. For instance, you can now acquire a wireless panic button for all your employees, allowing them to request and receive help immediately. Even though you can’t prevent every accident from happening, you can at least try to minimize its consequences. 

9. Learn from Your Shortcomings

Again, accidents can still happen, in spite of all of your strict safety protocols and practices. Be that as it may, it’s how you deal with these situations that matters. Aside from responding immediately, you should also take the time to analyze each case, and take it as an opportunity to improve.