Injury in the workplace is unavoidable. No matter how many precautions the employer takes, there will always be risks present that jeopardize the safety of their employees. In order to minimize the amount of injuries that their employees suffer, the employer must be proactive in preventing and reducing the risk that they are exposing their employees to.
Review The Injury History Of Your Employees
Reviewing the injury records of your employees will help you identify any potential areas where they may be placed at a higher risk of injury. You can use this information to help prevent injuries from reoccurring.
If they have had shoulder problems in the past, for example, you should keep them away from lifting heavy items over their heads. If they have had knee or leg issues in the past, do what you can do to keep them off their feet as much as possible.
By taking the time to review the injury history of your staff, you can apply that knowledge towards minimizing the amount of risk that you are putting individual employees in at the workplace. It will result in an overall decrease in injuries and lower the amount of missed time because of it.
Review Injury Trends Within Your Company
You should also pay close attention to any injuries that seem to have a higher occurrence than others. If you notice that certain injuries are occurring more than others, or specific injuries are happening more often than usual, it may be due to factors that you can control. Examine these trends and identify any recent changes that could have resulted in the increased amount of injuries.
The two most common reasons that can create new injury trends have to do with new practices that the employer adopts that put the employees at a greater risk for injury, and an absence of proper safety precautions that the employees are taking. In most cases, one of these will be the cause of the unexpected trends that you are seeing.
Examining The Workplace Conditions
Being proactive with the conditions that you are placing your employees in will go a long way in minimizing the risk of injury in the workplace. By carefully examining the conditions and the operations that are performed in the workplace, you will be able to not only fix problem areas that you find; you will also be able to prevent future incidents from occurring.
Identify Repetitive Tasks
Even the simplest tasks can eventually result in injury if they are repeated excessively. A good example of this is a carpal tunnel syndrome. Even something as simple as typing on a keyboard can lead to long-term injury. Make sure you give your employees a variety of tasks performed throughout their day.
Requiring Excessive Force
Any environment that requires the employee to exert excessive force will create an increased risk of injury. Although some of these tasks are unavoidable, you can reduce the risk by looking for ways to minimize the force that the employee left to exert on these types of tasks.
Final Takeaways
By taking these precautions as an employer, you can greatly reduce the risk that your employees are facing each day. It will decrease the amount of work injuries and lessen the amount of missed time because of it. It’s a win-win that everyone benefits from.
