How To Encourage Better Safety Among Employees

Each year, companies shell out billions of dollars towards the costs of on-the-job employee accidents. The most obvious cost of work-related accidents is worker's compensation and lost wages, but there are well over a dozen lesser-known costs. For instance, higher insurance premiums, time spent looking for replacement employees, administrative costs, reduced morale and damaged equipment all factor in to the true cost of accidents. Thankfully, you can reduce the chance of work-related accidents by encouraging better safety among your employees.

Training and Education

The first line of defense against work-related accidents is to train and educate your employees on safe practices. Even if your employees were originally trained during the initial phase of their job acquisition, it's still a good idea to send them through followup training once in a while. Although this requires both time and resources, it's sure to benefit your company in the long run with a safer work environment.

Identify Potential Dangers and Hazards

Owners and managers should also go through their workplace to identify potential dangers and hazards. This includes obvious dangers such as chemicals and heavy equipment, along with more discreet dangers like slippery areas on the floor. There are a couple of different ways to approach this task; you can either perform the inspection yourself, or you can hire a third-party company to come in and perform it.

Fixing The Problem

Once the 'danger' areas are identified in your workplace, you should work to fix them. If there's a slippery area on your floor, for instance, perhaps you could lay out a carpeted rug to increase traction here. The cost of purchasing an area rug is a small price to pay for the increased safety of your employees.

Of course, some dangers and hazards in the workplace aren't easily fixed. If there's no solution available for the problem, place a sign up to notify employees. Increasing awareness of the problem is one step closer to creating a safe environment for your employees.

Crunch The Numbers

Are employee accidents occurring frequently in your workplace? The only way you'll know the answer to this question is by crunching the numbers. Small business typically won't have a problem trying to identify the number of work-related accidents. Large businesses with multiple work locations, however, will likely experience difficulty with this issue. Perform routine safety audits to determine the frequency of accidents along with their causes. Using this information, you can then target the most problematic areas resulting in work-related accidents.