All kinds of accidents and injuries can occur in the workplace, which can affect your employees both physically and mentally. As a business owner, you therefore have a duty of care to protect them.
If an employee does find themselves left with serious injuries as a result of your negligence, they may be within their rights to seek compensation for the time off work, and also purely for the injuries sustained.
To be forewarned is to be forearmed; therefore, it's imperative you understand the necessary precautions. Here we're going to take a look at the most common workplace accidents and some ways you can help to prevent them from happening.
Slips, trips and falls
The cause of most compensation claims and a third of all personal injuries at work, slips, trips and falls should be a concern for businesses. They are also usually preventable. The main reasons behind these accidents include spills, loose flooring, poor lighting, and uneven walking surfaces.
The injuries sustained can range from minor things like pulled muscles and sprains to major concerns such as broken bones and neck injuries.
To prevent incidents like these, you should keep on top of any housekeeping, ensuring all surfaces are clean and dry and free of obstacles. Placing signage to indicate danger is also important, e.g., to make people aware of wet floors. Employees should be provided with suitable clothing and equipment to reduce the risks and should also be encouraged to report any accidents.
Fire and explosions
Explosions and fires may not account for as many accidents in the workplace but have one of the highest casualty rates. Fires that are started in the workplace are mostly caused by carelessness around open flames, incorrectly stored combustible materials and faulty gas lines.
Injuries may include varying degrees of burns, respiratory damage and life-changing wounds. This can also cause significant damage to the property, leave your employees out of work, and prevent the business from operating.
To help prevent fire-related accidents, you must conduct a fire safety risk assessment and regularly keep this updated. Following this, appropriate fire safety measures must be put in place to reduce any of the risks identified.
Individuals who are most at risk should be provided with adequate training and the correct protective equipment. Fire-fighting equipment should be easily accessible to be used quickly in the event of a fire.
Repetitive stress injuries and overexertion
Musculoskeletal disorders are very common in the workplace, with these issues leading to an average of 15.2 days off work per employee. The impact on your business is one thing but this can also contribute to loss of productivity and overall employee wellbeing.
Sometimes the pain can be so severe that employees are unable to continue working efficiently within their roles. The main causes include improper lifting of heaving objects, lack of rest and straining.
The solution? Ergonomics. In short, this is the science of adjusting the job to suit the employee's needs, whilst providing injury prevention solutions. For example, any tasks that require constant movement should include frequent breaks. Additionally, manual lifting equipment should be used for objects weighing over 22kg.
Of course, make sure that you provide employees with the relevant training and protective equipment to carry out these jobs. Sometimes, the solution is simple and relatively inexpensive but can prevent large issues from arising in the long term.
No comments:
Post a Comment