Workplace safety is critical. Every worker deserves to work in a job where their safety is the top priority even if all dangers cannot possibly be eliminated. Workplace injuries are, unfortunately, too common. For the office workers in Scranton, PA their safety, and let’s be honest, professional work environment is always in jeopardy- this includes their boss not taking safety training seriously, and worse, being the cause of the workplace injury in question. (And this isn’t even the time he hit Meredith with a car.) Although these are fictional characters, unfortunately these things do happen, and many times people don’t take workplace safety seriously enough.
There were approximately 2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses reported by private industry employers in 2017. About 3% of workers suffered some sort of workplace injury or illness in 2017, and every 7 seconds a worker is injured on the job.
Moreover, 5,147 workers died on the job in 2017. On average there are more than 99 deaths per week or more than 14 deaths every day. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like too many to me.
Work injuries and deaths are also expensive. According to the National Safety Council, the total cost of all work injuries in 2017 was $161.5 billion dollars. The figure includes
wage and productivity losses of $50.7 billion, medical expenses of $34.3 billion and administrative expenses of $52.0 billion. This total also includes employers’ uninsured costs of $12.4 billion, including the value of time lost by workers other than those with disabling injuries who are directly or indirectly involved in injuries, and the cost of time required to investigate injuries, write up injury reports and so forth. The total also includes damage to motor vehicles in work-related injuries of $4.9 billion and fire losses of $7.3 billion.
The average cost of a work-related injury in 2017 was $39,000 and the cost per death was $1,150,000. These figures “include estimates of wage losses, medical expenses, administrative expenses and employer costs, but excludes property damage costs except to motor vehicles.”
Most importantly, a serious workplace injury or death changes someone’s life forever. No company can afford to ignore workplace safety. Fortunately, there are some basic things that every company can do to improve workplace safety.
Steps to Improve Workplace Safety
There are many steps that every company should take to improve the safety of their employees. Most of them can be accomplished with only some minor effort from the company and its managers, but they have a dramatic impact on the workplace safety.
1. Train Your Employees
Employees must be trained to recognize and to report safety violations even when they are the ones that committed the violation. Many companies will discipline employees that fail to report safety violations because the risks are too high for the company if a problem does arise. Some employees may be afraid to report on other employees for fear that they will be thought of as tattletales. Employees need to have regular trainings and meetings on safety to make them feel comfortable with reporting safety violations and to understand the penalty and potential risk to themselves and their fellow employees for failing to report hazards and other safety issues.
The easiest way to train employees is through daily morning meetings where a safety or other topic is discussed for 5 minutes, implementing thorough onboarding training, and holding periodic extended trainings.
Covered topics at any facility should include:
- Sexual harassment
- Bullying
- Workplace violence
- Drug and alcohol use and recognition of the symptoms of use
- Proper use of equipment
- How to report injuries
2. Train Safety Coordinators, Managers, and other Individuals that are Specifically Responsible for Safety
Managers and safety coordinators need to be aware of the safety rules and procedures and be prepared to enforce them. These individuals need extra training to recognize and respond to safety issues, spot improper use of the equipment that their employees use, recognize alcohol and drug impairment, and know what to do when someone reports a safety issue.
3. Conduct Regular Inspections of the Worksite for Safety Issues
Employers, even those without a dedicated safety professional, should conduct regular inspections of their workplace. Every workplace should create a checklist of areas and equipment to inspect on a regular basis.
There are even certain types of equipment that needs to be checked every time you use it. For example, the safety rope should always be checked if you are jumping across a bridge at an extreme sports park that is suspended 500 feet above the ground.
Among the items that should be inspected are:
- Fire alarms
- Fire extinguishers (they should be available and unexpired)
- Any fences around the property to ensure that they are undamaged and do not have holes
- Walkways are free from grease, ice/snow in the winter, and water
- First aid kits are stocked, and the medicine/medical equipment is unexpired
- Ladders and other walking surfaces are in good condition and not slippery or unbalanced
- Any machine guards are undamaged and working properly
- Machinery, tools, and other equipment are working properly and undamaged.
Every workplace is different and has unique safety risks, but these are a few of the items that should be inspected at any workplace. Obviously, office, construction, manufacturing, restaurants, and every other type of workplace will have other problem areas that must be inspected.
4. You Need Proper Safety Procedures
Employees that have dangerous jobs must have procedures that should be followed to complete them to ensure that they are safe. For example, someone that is operating a forklift should have a procedure to alert people in the work area that they are operating the forklift (a beeping alarm or something similar), and they may also be required to keep their eyes focused and aware of their surroundings while they operate the machine. Workers that operate the equipment need to be aware of the rules.
In all workplaces, there should be procedures in place to ensure that all tasks that have safety risks are properly carried out in a way that minimizes the risk of injury. For example, any lockout-tagout procedures (which ensure that machines are shut off and not able to start until any maintenance or other work is completed) should be well documented.
What Are the Most Common Workplace Safety Violations that OSHA Finds
Below are the most common violations that every workplace should be aware of and prepare for when they consider the areas and equipment in their workplace that is most likely to cause injuries. The list below from OSHA is the Top 10 most frequently cited OSHA standards violated in FY 2018
Fall protection, construction (29 CFR 1926.501) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
Hazard communication standard, general industry (29 CFR 1910.1200) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]]
Scaffolding, general requirements, construction (29 CFR 1926.451) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
Respiratory protection, general industry (29 CFR 1910.134) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
Control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout), general industry (29 CFR 1910.147) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
Ladders, construction (29 CFR 1926.1053) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
Powered industrial trucks, general industry (29 CFR 1910.178) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
Fall Protection–Training Requirements (29 CFR 1926.503) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
Machinery and Machine Guarding, general requirements (29 CFR 1910.212) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
Eye and Face Protection (29 CFR 1926.102) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
Conclusion
Every workplace should be safe for the employees that work there. No workplace can eliminate all safety risks and hazards, but by taking steps to ensure good documentation and procedures and adequate training companies can reduce the likelihood that someone is injured on the job.