Sunday, August 21, 2011

Workplace Safety - Better Prevention than Cure

Recent statistics have shown that there are around 300 people being killed and thousands of people being injured while doing their jobs. Additionally, millions of people get affected by the dangerous chemicals or conditions at work. The losses of these accidents can be countless. Injuries increase the costs and burden to health services as well as the family of the injured employees. Therefore, prevention of any injuries or accidents should be the foremost objective of any workplaces.

There are various ways to keep those occurrences away. The first way that all employers need to choose is to display all necessary labor law posters as well as the additional safety posters. This is not an “optional” way; it is mandated by the state and federal labor law posters. To save money, small businesses can choose to create safety posters themselves instead of purchasing from the publishing companies. Safety posters come in different types and sizes; the contents of these posters may range from the most general topics to more specific ones. Some common posters that are used in every workplace are first aid procedures when specific incidents happen or fire prevention. When it comes to more specific safety posters, each business can depend on the real conditions as well as the real needs to select the posters that are most suitable for them. For example, on a construction site, you may see the posters like "Danger. High voltage" or "Take pride in your PPE" and so on.

The next way to reinforce the safety of a workplace is to introduce and give employees a health and safety training program. Safety posters provide them with some essential safety knowledge while the training programs help to put them into a "real" dangerous situation that requires their quick reactions. By implementing both of the above ways, the employers can ensure that their employees have been equipped with enough essential information on safety issue so that the potential dangers or hazards can be minimized.

Another method to avoid dangers is called risk management. Risk management is a step-by-step process. Firstly you need to identify the possible dangers. Secondly you need to access the risks and then remove them. All risks that have high possibilities to happen must be eliminated or controlled.
The last goal of implementing all those above methods is to create a peaceful and risk-free workplace so employers should consider those methods carefully. A risk-free working environment will help the employers avoid bad consequences and losses to their assets as well as their workforce.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

In any kind of workplace accident that may lead through health and physical injury and even fatality, of course prevention is better. That is why it is very important to know all safety rules and guidelines, have the right workplace safety training, have the right PPE, and follow all laws for safety.