Statistically speaking nearly 5000 fatal work injuries are recorded each year in the US alone. Also, around 2 million people succumb to work-related injuries and diseases every year. Numbers seldomly lie and if these numbers are anything to go by then we should be really worried. These statistics are from ILO and labor-related organizations and are therefore trustworthy.
We should strive to reduce and even completely eliminate these work-related deaths and casualties. We get that accidents are unforeseen circumstances but we should have contingency measures in case they occur. Charity does begin at home and this article guides you in taking the initiative and trying to prevent accidents at your workplace through the following ways.
Create And Maintain An Orderly Workplace
Proper housekeeping should not be restricted to our homes only. Practice good housekeeping at your workplace and reduce the chances of accidents occurring. Ensure that you clean spills off the floor, this will prevent someone from slipping and breaking an ankle or worse on the wet surface. The spills may also get into contact with electricity and result in a fire.
Assign a specific space for each work item and follow up to ensure that the items are placed thereafter. Plug off your machines when they are not in use and then clean them. Apart from preventing accidents, organizing your workplace will improve your productivity due to ease of access to work materials.
Take Protective Measures
Accidents cannot be foreseen and thus are impossible to completely prevent, especially those caused by an act of God. What we can do is mitigate these incidents and ensure that their effects are minimal. Workplaces consume more energy than our homes, so technically the risk of an electric fire is higher. Place fire extinguishers strategically around the establishment to prevent this.
Install smoke detectors and automatic sprinklers that would detect and snuff out the fire in an instant. This would minimize the potential loss to the facility. Ensure that the plumbing and gas supply system is installed by a reliable plumbing system supplier. This will prevent leakages that could end up being disastrous.
Employ A Skilled Staff
Your workers are the backbone of the business. The kind of workers you employ will determine whether your business will be successful or fail. Therefore ensure that the people you employ are competent in that line of service you want to put them in. While fishing for workers state the job requirements, during the interview check their credibility i.e are the certificates legit.
Failure to conduct this procedure carefully may end up costing you in the future. Do not let this be your ruin when you end up faced with numerous suits relating to negligence. Unqualified workers would not know how to efficiently operate the equipment or carry out other work-related activities. They would be prone to mishaps that could result in fatalities.
Regular Communication
Wars have been fought and many lives lost due to miscommunication. People have also lost a chance at happiness and good, healthy relationships due to this communication issue. The same applies to the work environment, lack of proper channels of communication may lead to frequent accidents. Work should flow seamlessly at the workplace, this requires the participation of each member of the staff.
For every worker to efficiently do their part then there has to be a constant line of communication between all the work sectors. Buy walkie-talkies or earpieces to enable this. You could also install speakers at the workplace which you can use to pass a message to many people at once. The voice system should be powerful enough to carry above the sounds of roaring machines and other working sounds
Use The Correct Equipment
Most workplaces rely on the use of machines to get the work done. Using faulty equipment or the wrong machine for a certain function could result in a catastrophe. The first step of reducing accidents at the workplace is to get quality, efficient equipment. They are quite expensive but the investment will pay off in the end.
After purchase ensure that only the workers trained to handle the machines operate them. Incorrect handling of the machines could cause accidents. The machines should also be maintained regularly as per the manufacturer’s manual. Also promptly repair the equipment in case they break down.
Conclusion
Workplace accidents are a common occurrence all over the world. This should not be the case, we are losing one too many people to these incidents. Accidents cannot be foreseen but we can be adequately prepared in case they happen. This article shows us how to reduce and eventually eliminate accidents at your workplace.