WORKPLACE SAFETY TIPS

  

1.    Be Conscious of Your Surroundings

There are hazards associated with your job and the workplace, this tip requires that you are familiar with them. Once you recognise these risks, you would be able to stay clear of potential hazardous areas, and potential hazardous situations.

2.   Take Regular Breaks

So many work-related injuries and illnesses occur because a worker is tired, burned out and not alert to their surroundings. Taking regular breaks helps you stay fresh on the job. One trick to staying alert is to schedule the most difficult tasks when your concentration is best, like first thing in the morning.

3.   Maintain Correct Posture to Protect Your Back

If you work at a desk, keep your shoulders in line with your hips to avoid back problems. If you’re picking things up, use the correct manual handling technique to avoid back injury. Avoid stooping and twisting.

4.   Keep Emergency Exits Easily Accessible         

Be familiar with the emergency exits closest to you in your workplace. In case of an emergency, like fire where the building is to be evacuated, you’ll need quick, easy access to these exits.

5.   Report All Unsafe Conditions, Unsafe Acts and Near Misses

Safety observation at the workplace is essential. You need to inform your supervisor or any responsible authority, about any workplace safety hazards or risks that you have noticed. It is important to have the incident assessed with corrective action taken and preventive measures put in place.

6.   Make Proper Use of Tools and Machines

Take the proper precautions when using tools, and never take shortcuts. Taking shortcuts is the leading cause of workplace injury. Using tools the right way greatly reduces the possibility of workplace injury.

7.   Use Mechanical Aids Whenever Possible

Instead of attempting to carry or lift something that’s really heavy in an attempt to save a sliver of time during your workday, take the extra minute to use a wheelbarrow, conveyor belt, crank or forklift. Too many injury risks are involved with trying to lift something that weighs too much.

8.   Stay Clear of Alcohol & Drugs

A tangible percentage of workplace fatalities occur due to alcohol and drugs abuse. If a worker’s ability to exercise proper judgment, concentration, motor control, coordination or alertness is compromised, this can lead to any number of risks for workplace injury and fatalities.

9.   Manage Workplace Stress Properly

Stress can lead to depression and concentration problems. Common causes of workplace stress include long hours, heavy workload, job insecurity and conflicts with co-workers or managers. Take your concerns about workplace stress to your supervisor to see how they might help you address them.

10.  Use Correct Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

If the correct PPE is not used while carrying out a task, the possibility of injury is high. PPE acts to protect you from the hazards of the job. Depending on the type of job, PPE includes coveralls, steel-toed safety shoe/boots, hard hats, earplugs, earmuffs, gloves, safety goggles, safety harness, etc.

© ASTER SAFETY LTD     

DUTY OF CARE

 

In our working environment, we have different work processes that take place to enable achieve targeted outcomes. In achieving these outputs, there are several individual workers who perform various functions to meet production targets.

Every worker deserves to be adequately taken care of and provided with necessary tools, protective equipment and safe working environment by the employer. The employer is responsible for the safety of employees and has a legal duty of care to provide such satisfactory atmosphere with adequate protection for workers.

The duty of care also extends to individual workers, who must ensure that the safety of their colleagues is always guaranteed at all times by their responsible behavior. Supervisors have a duty to ensure that the health and safety of workers under their control are sufficiently guaranteed according to defined safety policies and procedures.

© ASTER SAFETY LTD

SAFETY IS EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS

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No matter the number of times we may have heard or seen this expression, it is highly important that we appreciate the message and ensure it is at the back of our minds always.

We may have a Safety Department and a limited number of safety officials whose job is to ensure compliance to safety procedures, the rest of us, especially those engaged in operational duties that involve the use of various tools and equipment, must realize that the bulk of the responsibility towards safety lies with us.

Our positive attitude towards safety on a daily basis would ensure that we have accident-free operations. Our co-workers must also fully understand this statement, and we are duty bound to call them to order if at any point in time we notice any deviation from standard procedures. Such intervention or correction could be the difference between staying safe and getting injured, or sometimes, permanent disability or death. It is also equally important that we report all near misses, incident and injury to our supervisors and the safety department.

© ASTER SAFETY LTD

IDENTIFYING HAZARDS AND RISKS

 

A hazard is any item, substance or situation that has the potential to cause harm or damage. A risk is the likelihood of a hazard resulting in harm and the severity of the outcome.

In our working environment, we use a lot of tools and equipment to achieve various outputs so as to ensure that the organizational objectives and production targets are met.

We should realize that if not properly utilized, every one of these devices have the potential to cause injuries to our individual selves, our co-workers and in some instances damage to property and the environment.

It is therefore extremely important that we adopt behavioral patterns that seek to ensure that all forms of hazards are eliminated within the workplace to guarantee injury-free environment.

Although it is impossible to eliminate all hazards to prevent accidents, the key thing is to ensure the reduction to an acceptable level of risk.

© ASTER SAFETY LTD

No alternative to safety

As we perform our daily tasks, whether at home or while toiling to eke out a living at work, it is imperative that safety is fully embraced.

Safety is not just a set of rules but a way of life. Adopting a positive safety culture in all strata of life's endeavours would ensure that accidents are prevented from occurring.