What Can Organizations Do to Reduce and Eliminate Illnesses and Injuries?
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Picture this: A worker slips on an oily floor, an unmarked chemical container leaks, and faulty wiring sparks near flammable materials, all in one day. Sounds unnecessary, chaotic, and wasteful, right? These situations are extremely dangerous and will allow serious injuries to occur. Injures cause pain and suffering to employees and their families, manufacturing costs to rise, labour shortages, and employee morale to suffer. Under the law, employers must report serious injuries to OSHA, after which an OSHA inspection may be conducted.
Table of Contents
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Building a World Class Safety Culture
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Safety Education and Training
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Illness and Injury Reduction
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Benefits of Finding and Remediating Hazards Before Illness or Injury
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What Is Risk Assessment and Abatement
What is “Building a World Class Safety Culture”
Everyone has “Safety Culture” in an organization. If you do not believe me, merely go out and move something around or change something and not tell anyone first. In most cases you will get immediate feedback on your change, and you will find out about culture very quickly! Some cultures effectively use employee engagement to proactively anticipate problems and fix them before injuries occur. However, in most cases safety cultures are do not fully engage their employees and find themselves to reacting to their problems after they have occurred. They are always chasing their tails.
A World Class Safety Culture (WSC) is not interested in simple reduction of illness and injuries. A WSC world towards elimination of illness and injuries. Most people will gladly stipulate that “Safety is Number 1!” However, in a WSC, “Safety is NOT Number 1!” Safety is not considered a goal in a WSC it is a core value, or an integral part of their mission. A WSC does builds safety into everything! They do safety not because they must, but because it is part of who they are!
What is “Safety Education and Training”
If you are going to have your employees at any level look for hazards and protect themselves the must understand what hazards look like! They must know what is required by law (OSHA) and what is required by the industry and organization. The only way to do that is to ensure your employees are educated and training in these requirements. That is the meaning and purpose of Safety Education and Training.
What is Illness and Injury Reduction
Illness and Injury Reduction is about understanding how these incidents occur in the workplace. He basic premise for understanding this is to understand a little something about how humans do and do not do things and realizing this central fact. Most accidents that occur where humans are involved the root cause of that accident is human behaviour. Often it comes down to simply, someone did something they were not supposed to do, or a person did not do something they were supposed to do! Understanding this concept will go along way to fixing all the various hazards.
Another concept in illness and accident reduction is to investigate all incidents thoroughly to ensure the correct problem is fixed and the accident does not occur again injuring another employee! Related to this concept is tracking the organizations illness and injury history. By analysing all these incidents, the organization can look for trends and issues. The organization may also compare their injury statistics to other like companies in their industry (NAICS code).
What are the Benefits of Finding and Remediating Hazards, Before Illness or Injury
The Benefits of Finding and Remediating Hazards Before Illness or Injury are many. The purpose is to avoid the pain, suffering, hassle, cost, and waste to the organization. By finding and fixing hazards before they cause illness or injury you will have a much more efficiently run organization! One tool of all this is Risk Assessment and Abatement
What Is Risk Assessment and Abatement
Risk Assessment and Abatement is all about finding dangers before they hurt anyone. Roper Risk Assessment and Abatement three key components. First the Audit Phase involves looking in every corner of the workplace to check what could go wrong. This includes checking machinery, tools, procedures, training, electrical setups, material movement, and industrial hygiene. You document all these findings.
The next step is to perform a Risk Rating on each item found. This Risk Rating is the product of two numerical factors, the Likleyhood of an Injury, and the Severity of the Potential Injury. This Risk Rating assists the organization in setting priorities for the allocation of resources for the next step.
The next step is Abatement. That means removing or reducing those hazards. For example, fixing loose wires, adding guardrails, or storing chemicals safely. This combo helps lower the chance of accidents and OSHA violations.
Each item is kept on a spreadsheet to track its progress towards remediation.
Key Takeaway
Employee illnesses and injuries are not just random bad luck. They always happen for a reason, what we call root cause. They usually happen when risks get ignored (human behaviour). By being proactive can find hazards early and eliminate them right. This keeps workers safe, boosts morale, and shields companies from excessive cost. Safety starts with awareness and ends with action.
The End Note!
Safety Fitz LLC helps organizations build safer workplaces by guiding them through effective building of World Class Safety Cultures. Their approach shows how being proactive will improve employee safety, providing a content workforce, elimination of waste, and reduction in cost. By partnering with experienced experts like Safety Fitz LLC, businesses can create a World-Class Safety Culture that complements the entire business!
