How employees can stay safe at work
22nd May 2022 Down to Business
In today’s modern world, it’s common to come across unforeseen cases of accidents that can happen anywhere, disrupting victims’ lives.
More often than not, sheer negligence can cause significant trauma to individuals. Workplace mishaps are hazardous, as they undermine workers’ health and productivity. Luckily, accidents at work can be avoided by creating a safe and sound environment. Undoubtedly, the workforce is an invaluable asset for every organisation, and adopting effective procedures is critical to averting dangers and injuries.
Creating excellent working conditions is vital for businesses to achieve long-lasting success, boost productivity, and decrease staff disability and injury cases. However, prioritising safety is not only an employer’s responsibility – workers should also be aware of the hazards and do their best to prevent accidents. Without further ado, here are ten safety tips every employee should know about.
Understand the risks in your work environment
Work environments are all different and vary depending on the industry. Employees must understand the risks that come with their specific job so that they can take steps to avoid injury.
Once you become familiarised with your surroundings, you’ll be cautious and avoid precarious situations. High-risk areas in the workplace can be located around electronics, washrooms, kitchens, and storehouses.
Report hazardous conditions
Workers often hesitate to share specific hazardous conditions with their superiors as they fear getting themselves or another person in trouble. This doesn’t promote a safe work environment because it increases the risks of accidents. Hazards you may come across include unsteady tiles, ripped carpets, damaged chairs or tables, and stray cables.
You should make this a priority and report any hazards to your superiors immediately so that they can take corrective measures to preserve a safe culture. This way, you will protect yourself and your co-workers.
Wear safety equipment
This tip may seem evident, but it’s still critical to remind employees to wear personal protective equipment while at work. Often, workers may forget to wear a particular piece of equipment, like a hard hat or protective goggles. Or they may choose not to wear the gear as they consider it unnecessary or believe they can complete the task rapidly without it.
Personal protective equipment is meant to protect employees from injury and keep them safe, so you should take advantage of it. Besides keeping you from getting hurt, there’s another critical reason why you should wear the equipment. If you have a workplace accident, you can make a personal injury claim to get compensation for your injuries and losses. However, if you ignore the safety precautions, you likely won’t be eligible for it.
Remember to take breaks
Many workplace injuries occur due to burnout or tiredness. Being overworked leads to errors that further lead to injuries. When you are tired, you cannot entirely focus on what you’re doing, which can pose significant risks, as you can harm yourself or others.
However, you can prevent such an incident by taking breaks regularly. Staying alert during repetitive tasks is indeed challenging, but it’s vital to do so. Here’s one tip you may find helpful: consider scheduling the most potentially hazardous jobs when you feel well-rested, like after a break or upon morning arrival.
Reduce workplace stress
Nowadays, stress is considered an epidemic. And it can be prominent, especially in the workplace, due to factors such as job insecurity, a hostile work environment, overload or conflict with bosses or colleagues. All these things can deter you from concentrating on the required tasks.
Stress causes physical symptoms, such as fatigue, chest pain and indigestion. But stress is also detrimental to your mental health, leading to irritability, frustration, and lack of confidence. No matter if you experience mild stress or severe stress, it undermines your ability to perform tasks competently and efficiently. If specific things at work stress you out, consider addressing the issue with your supervisor.
Use the equipment adequately
It’s critical for employees that work with several tools to use them correctly. Avoiding shortcuts is also vital, as they are one of the primary factors that lead to workplace injuries.
Regardless of the urgency level, it’s safer and wiser to be vigilant and abstain from quick-fix measures. Reminders through training courses regarding safety and health would help highlight this point.
Keep workplace areas clean
A clean workplace will help reduce incidents of slipping and stumbling due to clutter on the floor. Workplace accidents often occur because of falls, and sometimes they have tragic consequences, causing death.
Clutter-free aisles that are tidy and well-organised will eliminate any hindrance in your path that could lead to injury.
Stay sober
While at work, you should be able to focus on your tasks efficiently. You need awareness, good judgement, motor control and coordination. Using drugs or alcohol impacts all these things, reducing inhibitions and fostering dangerous behaviours in the workplace.
They can affect your judgement, resulting in devastating consequences – you could get hurt and even die. Thus, it’s paramount to say no to drugs and alcohol during workdays to protect yourself from unexpected incidents.
Maintain good posture
Whether you work in a manufacturing plant or an office setting, it takes effort to maintain a proper posture. But this is crucial to preventing chronic neck, shoulder or back pain and injuries. An adequate posture would enable you to sit, stand or walk in a way with minimal pressure on muscles. You should be able to lift objects without unneeded twisting and bending in the right way when picking something.
Poor posture may result from stress, standing or sitting for more extended periods in the same position, unsatisfactory working conditions, obesity, etc. You should always be intentional about maintaining a proper posture while carrying out your work tasks. That way, you’ll pay more attention to it and thus, prevent long-term adverse effects.
Leverage mechanical aids
Lifting is a leading factor in muscle and bone injuries that happen in the workplace. You can indeed lift light items, but for the heavier ones, it’s wise to use mechanical aids, such as conveyor belts, forklifts, shelves or hand trucks, and cranes.
These mechanical aids are designed to assist you by diminishing physical labour and making the lifting of items safer and trouble-free.
Last words
Undoubtedly, you can avoid workplace injuries by becoming aware of the perils in the environment and taking the necessary steps to prevent injuries. Prevention is more desirable than cure, and thus, every employee should learn how to stay safe at work.
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