Take the Offensive! Eliminate Hazards before Hazards Eliminate Employees!

Thousands of workers are injured and/or killed on the job every day in the United States.  Those injuries and deaths cost American companies $175 billion.  Those loses are needless, as almost 100% of injuries are preventable.  Wouldn’t it be a great benefit to eliminate hazards before they eliminate your employees?

“Impossible,” you say.  Not so!  You can prevent workplace injuries by:

  1. Examining your operations,
  2. Establishing proper procedures, and
  3. Ensuring that all employees are properly trained.

Examining Your Operations
As an owner, manager or supervisor, are you fully aware of the hazards your workers face every day?  Do you know the condition of the equipment, tools and work space your employees use every day?  Are your workers put in any degree of danger while performing their work duties?  Here are some ways to honestly appraise your answers to those questions:

  • Involve your employees.  They have a unique understanding of their tasks and could probably identify hazards that you don’t know exist.  Also, employees feel valued when asked to provide their feedback.  Value their input!
  • Review your accident history.  Do the same accidents tend to recur?  What about “near misses?”  Near misses are very accurate indicators of future accidents, so pay close attention to them and correct the problem before an accident occurs.  Document them!
  • Be proactive.  Good safety must be mandated by upper management, and must be enforced by supervisory personnel.  Owners must emphasize safety before accidents occur.  Likewise, a supervisor who waits until there is an eye injury before requiring his/her workers to wear eye protection is “reactive,” rather than “proactive.”  Do it now!

Establishing Proper Procedures
Does your company have a written procedures manual?  Is that manual the guiding force behind how your company operates?  The best way to determine proper work procedure is to conduct a Job Hazard Analysis (JHA).  When conducted properly, JHA’s will pinpoint hazards.  Once hazardous conditions or actions are corrected, the result will be fewer injuries, more effective work methods, lower workers comp costs, and increased productivity.  Again, owners and upper management must demonstrate their commitment to safety and must follow through to make sure known hazards are corrected.  Otherwise, they will lose credibility.

Here are some keys to establishing proper procedures:

  • Determine whether tasks with greater risk can be accomplished a different way.  Can the hazard be eliminated by changing the way the task is done?  Are there other ways to protect against the hazard?  (Ie – machine guards, PPE, etc.)
  • Complete an actual Job Hazard Analysis. Visit this OSHA site and register for CBR’s August Safety Webinar for information about how to conduct a Job Hazard Analysis (including sample forms).
  • Ask yourself these questions:  What can go wrong?  What are the consequences?  How could it happen?  What are all the contributing factors?  How likely is it that the hazard will cause an accident?

Ensuring that All Employees are Properly Trained
Does the new guy on the crew fully understand what his role is, and how to properly use the tools available to him?  Time spent in properly training new employees, or those whose job tasks have been altered, will pay large dividends!  Rushing an employee to perform tasks he/she is not trained in is rushing an employee into an accident neither you nor the worker wants to have.

Here are some tips to ensure that your employees are properly trained:

  • Demand that supervisors take the time to properly describe and demonstrate the tasks a new employee will be asked to do.
  • Demand that supervisors then observe the new employee perform the task.  Correct until done properly.
  • Assign a co-worker to work alongside the new employee for a day or two.
  • Be sure the new employee knows who to direct questions to, and encourage him/her to ask those questions.
  • If heavy equipment is involved, conduct an actual driving test.  (Those who operate heavy equipment must be certified and designated as a “competent person” before operating that equipment.)

Eliminate hazards before hazards eliminate your employees! Injuries are preventable, but only if efforts are made before accidents occur.  Keep in mind that near misses are great indicators of impending minor accidents, and that minor accidents are great indicators of impending major accidents.  Accidents don’t “just happen”…they result from failure to look ahead and protect your workers.  Be proactive…eliminate a hazard before a hazard eliminates one or more of your employees!

 

Contact us or request a proposal for more information!