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How to Prevent Accidents In The Workplace

by Stephen

Book Image Your office may seem to be a safe place, but in fact in 2001 alone, a total of 45.8 billion was allotted for office-related injuries, according to the Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index. This statistic only show that accidents can happen everywhere, even in the comfort of your own workplace. Accidents can raise the cost of insurance premiums which can be costly in the part of business owners. Not only do accidents decrease company revenues, but it can also be grounds for possible liabilities and can decrease the efficiency of employees when working.

You don't need to employ expensive programs to prevent office-related accidents. As the old saying goes, prevention is always better than cure. Below are quick tips on how to ensure safety in any workplace:

1. Unsafe Equipments Put a label on hazardous equipments. This may include power source, heavy machineries, and equipments with sharp edges. Post a sign that reads "For Authorized Personnel Only" for areas that houses such equipments. Put a reminder to use proper protective gears when entering these areas.

2. Training Be sure to hold proper equipment training for your employees especially if their work requires dealing with equipments that may need some amount of expertise to operate. It has been reported that most accidents in the workplace are caused by human error.

3. Electricity Remind workers to turn off and unplug all electrical appliances whenever they are not in use and when they leave the office. Also avoid using electrical equipments if water is present.

4. Broken Equipments Make a policy that all workers should immediately report any non-working equipment to the maintenance staff or the management. Some accidents are caused by employees who try to get a broken equipment to work.

5. Cleaning Always remind your janitorial staff to catch the attention of anyone who might walk on wet floors whenever they are cleaning the floors. A "wet floor" sign should always be placed in these areas.

6. Dress Code Always remind all workers to wear the proper dress code. This may include wearing hard hats, boots and other protective clothes.

7. Stairs Put painted marks on stairs and other raised areas. This can be very helpful to avoid tripping, especially in the dark.

Book Image Company newsletters or advisories are effective tools in getting your safety reminders across. Post safety memos in designated bulletin boards where workers can easily spot them. Giving a piece of warning on every foreseeable cause of injury can save the company and its workers a lot of expenses and hassles. Working in a safe place can surely increase workers' productivity.

For more information on accidents in the workplace visit the Home Builders Directory

About the Author
Stephen is the webmaster at http://www.constructionworld.us the online Home Builders Directory