Safety at work is pretty much a no brainer for most of us. Keep our fingers out of the press, don’t get hydrochloric acid in our eyes, and be careful on the stairs while carrying stuff. But believe it or not, millions, if not billions, of dollars are lost every year due to workplace accidents. Workplace safety is much more than simply staying out of trouble. In this article, you’ll learn some of the deeper consequences of workplace safety, and how it can potentially affect your company.
The first thing people think about when they imagine a workplace accident is having to go to the hospital, and not being able to work. While workers compensation insurance may cover your salary while you are away from work, who is going to perform your job? With too many accidents, companies can suffer a dramatic decrease in productivity, making it hard to maintain their profits. This can eventually impact their ability to retain full time employees, which are necessarily covered by workers compensation insurance.
Another big blow to the company due to workplace accidents are large insurance claims. Sure, everybody thinks that insurance companies are big buckets of cash, and everybody may be waiting for their payday. But if any company has too many employees claiming workplace accident benefits, the insurance company will likely raise the cost of insurance, or cancel them altogether. This will pretty much bring work to standstill, as companies can’t really employ people unless they can insure them.
Another problem with workplace accidents is that they invite scrutiny by OSHA. This is the government body dedicated to workplace safety. While all of OSHA’s rules should be observed at all times, it’s troublesome to stop the flow of normal work so OSHA representatives can come and audit the company to make sure their safety is up to standard. Often times this may require a substantial amount of money to bring things up to standard.
Naturally, a major benefit to staying accident free is both increased productivity, and decreased overhead costs, both of which contribute to more profits for the company. Studies have shown that workers in an environment where a big sign is always on display showing the number of consecutive days without an accident have much more productivity and morale. They tend to watch each other’s back, and do whatever they can to keep their safe streak alive.
Those that practice safe workplace behavior know that by positively affecting the company’s bottom line, you will bring recognition and financial rewards to yourself. That’s reason enough to stay safe while at work.
To discover the best hard hats for sale visit the hard hats for sale website today.
Workplace safety is something that everybody knows is important, at least in the back of their minds. But unfortunately, workplace mishaps caused by safety violations cost millions of dollars in productivity every single year. And this cost is eventually passed on to us, the consumers. In this struggling economy, that is something that we definitely don’t need.
Even though these points are obvious, it pays to revisit them from time to time. Sometimes a basic refresher course is just the thing we need to be able to move forward. In this article I’ll over some basic safety tips that everybody should pay attention to, regardless of where you work and what your job description is. These tips can save your company money, and keep you out of the hospital.
The biggest cause of accidents is when people are trying to hurry up and finish something, and they cut corners. This increases the risk of mistakes, which can cause serious accidents. So the most important safety tip is to simply take your time. Don’t rush. Even if your boss is breathing down your neck to get you to finish on time, make sure you don’t cut any corners that could lead to potentially disastrous results.
The second tip is to always ask for advice before doing something you’re unsure of. Even if it means hearing the wrath of your boss telling you that you should already know how to do that, take the time to ask anyway. It may save you from doing it wrong, and injuring yourself. That would make your boss really angry.
Another way to go about doing this is to follow a written procedure. Anything that is done repetitively on the job must have a written procedure, including how to avoid any potential hazards. This written procedure must be available to anybody who might perform this function. So if you aren’t sure, consult with the procedure to make sure you are doing it right. If there isn’t a procedure, this is something you should bring to the attention of your human resources department.
Another essential safety tip is to dispose of chemicals properly. Any company that uses chemicals must have a material safety data sheet (MSDS) which describes all the chemicals on the premises, including how to dispose of them properly. Again, if you are in any doubt, and are unsure, either consult with your boss, or human resources. Not having a readily available MSDS for all chemicals is a violation of safety laws.
While these tips may seem basic and obvious, following them will go a long ways towards keeping your work place accident free. This will mean your company will save money, you will spend less time away from work, and your boss will be happy.
To discover the best hard hats for sale visit the hard hats for sale website today.
When you purchase a fire extinguisher and you need to install it, one of the most important things to consider is the necessity to mount a fire extinguisher sign where it is going to be placed or stored.
Fire extinguisher signs are mandatory for every place whether small or big, where extinguishers are placed. The basic logic behind this is that the extinguisher can be spotted easily with the help of a sign.
When there’s a fire and people start panicking, it may be difficult to locate a fire fighting device; extinguisher signs can be very helpful, so that also people that don’t know the position of these devices can find them.
The traditional or old fire extinguisher signs just depicted the fire extinguisher position. The new ones however indicate the type of fire extinguisher and the type of fires it can be used for.
Some signs may also give brief instructions to handle the equipment. There are also diagrams and pictures depicting the use of the extinguisher. This is an advantage as it may not be possible to refer to the instruction manual from time to time, or someone who has never read the manual can at least operate the extinguisher in case of an emergency.
These signs are made of aluminum, rigid PVC or self adhesive vinyl. The new signs also glow in the dark, because they are covered with phosphor ink that has a photo luminescent property. The advantage of this type of fire extinguisher signs is that they do not need any kind of flashlights or even torches to locate a sign and then the extinguisher.
To better locate the extinguisher in the dark, you can also place a small reflective sticker on the device itself; also in this case, however, you must place a sign as described above.
These safety signs can be easily found at safety equipment stores and websites; their cost depend on the size, material and other characteristics. You could also find them included with the extinguisher.
All safety signs must be square or rectangular. Since their function is to be easily seen, their dimensions depend on the intended observation distance, so you should keep this in mind when you purchase them.
As we all know, proper training is fundamental to be able to effectively fight a fire in an emergency situation. However, if you don’t find quickly the nearest extinguisher, all your training is worthless. That’s why the signs we’ve been discussing here are so important, in addition to proper placement and availability of fire fighting devices.
Fire extinguisher signs are described in our website dedicated to fire extinguishers for sale.