Workplace Safety

“Acci­dents at the work­place.  Sev­er­al are injured.  The health and safe­ty board will be inves­ti­gat­ing the cause.”

We hear these words on a year round basis yet acci­dents and injuries at the work­place con­tin­ue to occur.  Work­place safe­ty is an impor­tant issue in the work­place as it can deter­mine how long an employ­ee stays, how long a busi­ness oper­ates or even how many peo­ple wish to work at an orga­ni­za­tion.  All work­place acci­dents and injuries are pre­ventable and it is the respon­si­bil­i­ty of the com­pa­ny as well as the employ­ees to make sure that these acci­dents do not occur.  Here are five tips to help improve safe­ty in the work­place. Be Aware of Your Sur­round­ings This means get­ting to know where you’ll be work­ing.  Whether you’re work­ing in a lab, office, school or con­struc­tion site, get to know your sur­round­ings.  Observe where the work sta­tions are, see where the fire exits are locat­ed and look for any poten­tial haz­ards.  Don’t for­get to check for the air qual­i­ty too.  You don’t want to be work­ing in a stuffy, hard to breathe envi­ron­ment as it could be detri­men­tal to your health.  Also, under­stand the risks of the job and the pro­ce­dures to fol­low if injuries are incurred.  While at work, stay clear of any and all haz­ards and don’t be afraid to ask ques­tions to your employ­er and oth­er employ­ees about safe­ty on the job. Report Unsafe Con­di­tions As an employ­er, com­pa­nies are legal­ly oblig­at­ed to pro­vide a safe envi­ron­ment to all their employ­ees.  As an employ­ee, report any unsafe work­ing con­di­tions or haz­ards with­in the com­pa­ny imme­di­ate­ly to a super­vi­sor, man­ag­er or any fig­ure of author­i­ty.  Inform your supe­ri­ors  of how long they’ve been occur­ring and if pos­si­ble, how they start­ed.  Also, don’t be afraid to report any dif­fi­cul­ties you face in per­form­ing your job.  You should­n’t have to face obsta­cles when doing your job and the com­pa­ny should make every effort to make sure that noth­ing impedes you from per­form­ing your work. Take Breaks Every­one needs a break to refu­el and recharge.  Reg­u­lar breaks through­out the day pre­vents employ­ee burnout and keeps them fresh on the job.  It also helps to pre­vent work place relat­ed ill­ness­es and injuries from occur­ring as being well rest­ed makes you ful­ly aware of your sur­round­ings, allow­ing you to react much quick­er if an inci­dent does occur. Healthy and Safe = Moti­va­tion A healthy and safe work­place is a key fac­tor in employ­ee moti­va­tion.  A clean and healthy work­place allows the employ­ee to focus on doing their best work while a safe envi­ron­ment allows the employ­ees to go about their jobs with­out hav­ing to fear their safe­ty.  Over­all, it improves the func­tion and pro­duc­tiv­i­ty of an orga­ni­za­tion as all employ­ees are com­mit­ted and focused on their work instead of the dan­gers that may lurk. Know The Rules Anoth­er fac­tor that con­tributes to the cause of work­place relat­ed injuries and acci­dents is the incom­plete knowl­edge of on the job rules and reg­u­la­tions.  We have the stan­dard work­place safe­ty rules (ex. WHMIS), the rules of the depart­ment and the over­all cor­po­rate rules and guide­lines.  Know­ing these rules and under­stand­ing them is the first step in pre­vent­ing work­place injuries.  As much as it is the cor­po­ra­tion’s respon­si­bil­i­ty to edu­cate its employ­ees on these rules, it is also our own respon­si­bil­i­ty to learn and under­stand them.  Once equipped with this knowl­edge, employ­ees are much bet­ter off in deal­ing with the day to day activ­i­ties of the work­place and are bet­ter pre­pared if an acci­dent does occur. Work should be reward­ing, not painful.  Make work­place safe­ty a full time job instead of a part time prac­tice to make sure you don’t end up on the injury list.