According to OSHA, workplace injury rates have been consistently declining since 2004. In general, our workplaces are safer than they have ever been. Yet despite this positive change, not every company knows how to implement successful safety procedures. As a result, many employers continue to make serious mistakes that have simple solutions.
Here are some of the most common mistakes that can put you and your employees at risk of injury, as well cause both legal and financial trouble:
Neglecting to train each individual employee -- Even if you only have a handful of employees completing relatively safe tasks, you still need to train them on how to properly handle all aspects of the job. If you operate with heavy equipment, only fully trained employees can safely use these machines, but it's your responsibility to train everyone on your staff on how to effectively and safely operate around the heavy equipment on site.
Not purchasing necessary safety equipment -- There are all kinds of items that promote and ensure safety within a workplace. You need to make sure that your organization is equipped with all of these items. This includes task-specific safety items such as helmets, reflective clothing, and safety harnesses. However, many employers don't realize that they are missing some of the most elementary pieces of safety equipment, such as proper lighting and stair grip tape. From protective gear to peel and stick tape to prevent slips, you should have a supply of these items (enough to have multiple backups) in order to keep everyone on the premises safe. According to the Department of Labor, slips, trips, and falls are the second leading cause of workplace fatalities (behind incidents involving vehicles). Using quality stair grip tape can provide much-needed traction for your employees. Also, non slip treads are great for ramps and stairs, and to provide safe footing on industrial equipment.
Skipping machine inspections and neglecting to review safety guidelines -- Even the highest quality machine can breakdown, causing all kinds of expensive problems. In order to ensure that these issues don't result in workplace injuries in addition to downtime, you need to stay on-top of maintenance and inspections. Additionally, you should be reviewing workplace safety guidelines at least once or twice a year.
If you want to learn more about improving the safety of your workplace with quality traction tape, give Safe Way Traction a call right away.
