Workplace Safety Standards to Demand from Your Employer
Oftentimes, preventable workplace accidents arise from an employer’s attempts to skimp on employee safety. When employers are careful about how they roll out new equipment and technology, they can make you safer and reduce instances of workplace injury.
Here are four standards to help eliminate unnecessary workplace accidents.
Including Safety and Health In Your Culture
In order to keep your workplace safe and free of accidents, everyone needs to be onboard. Accident prevention should be the priority of every person on your site, and safety should be a natural part of your workflow.
A health and wellness program might not seem like it has much to do with preventing workplace accidents, but when people are healthy, they’re more alert. Your employer should provide a comprehensive plan to support health and safety and to avoid hazardous practices.
Never Stop Training
Everyone from the executive and management level on down should be trained on how to make the workplace safer. There need to be standards that are continually cultivated between employees and management. There should also be a flow of communication that allows employees to give feedback to management.
While managers have the experience and insight to talk about what the biggest problems could be with safety, employees have different insight. They will see things come up that management couldn’t have anticipated and will be able to offer solutions to help eliminate those issues.
Whenever a new piece of equipment is brought in, you and everyone who works around it should be trained on what it is, what it does, and how to be safe when working nearby or on the equipment.
Lifting and moving things throughout the day could result in injuries over time. After a year of straining in a certain way, one wrong move could result in a tear, breakage, or sprain.
Demand the Right Tools
When you’re at work, you need to have the right tools to do a job right and do it safely. You should have ample personal protection tools and equipment available, without question. This safety equipment should be inspected regularly and updated as often as necessary.
There should have a surplus of goggles, gloves, and hardhats available to you. You should not have to open your own wallet to have the equipment you need in order to perform your job safely.
Consider the importance of hearing as well. While it’s certainly underreported, hearing loss only accelerates in potential as we age. Encourage your employers to protect your hearing.
While your employer might not be able to give you a pair of shoes, you should try to find ones that suit your needs. If you spend most of your day standing up, the right pair of shoes will affect the health of your spine, neck, and back.
Don’t Let Your Employer Cut Corners
One of the major reasons for injuries at work is when staff cuts are unnecessarily made. When your team is understaffed, there won’t be enough people around to do work safely. You may find yourself doing work own your own that would usually require someone around to spot you.
When your employer assumes that you can do work well while also focusing on staying safe, it is asking you to be able to monitor yourself while focusing on work. That kind of dual consciousness is impossible when you’re immersed in work.
Being overworked can have negative consequences on workplace safety. While the overtime pay may be welcome, working too many hours is tiring and can cause individuals to start overlooking the safety procedures that have been installed. This can lead to a serious accident. When you or your coworkers are tired, you’re more likely to skip steps you don’t think are important, but which could have dangerous results.
A way to avoid this is to ask for help during busy seasons. Having part time labor can relieve others and allow them a chance to get the rest they need between shifts to keep doing outstanding work.
Inspect your equipment, vehicles, and machines regularly. Let someone know if they need to be serviced and don’t allow anyone to use them until problems have been ironed out. Create a schedule that includes monthly inspections to keep everything working smoothly.
Most Workplace Accidents Are Preventable
If you carefully examine the places at your worksite or in your building that are most susceptible to workplace accidents, you could help improve safety all around. Your employers, however, should do the brunt of this work, and failing to do so could possibly be illegal. In these situations, a Birmingham industrial accidents attorneys from Farris, Riley & Pitt, LLP can help you with your case.
Sadly, there can be times when employers fail to live up to their employees’ safety demands. If you have been seriously hurt on the job as a result of inadequate safety conditions at your job site, Farris, Riley & Pitt, LLP can help you seek the compensation you need.
Call (205) 324-1212 or contact us online to set up a free initial case consultation.
