Workplace health and safety issues affect everyone from employers to employees. Workplace Health and Safety guidelines are designed to maximise employee productivity, minimise injury and illness in the workplace.
Workplace accidents and injuries result in lost productivity and claims on workers’ compensation. Businesses have responsibilities and legal obligations to promote and adhere to workplace health and safety guidelines to ensure their workers remain safe and healthy as they carry out their work.
Here, Seymour Consultants share some tips on how you can make your own workplace a safer place to work:
Know your workplace
Each workplace has its own hazards like working in a workshop full of tools or a manufacturing plant with machinery.
Understanding that some areas of your workplace are more hazardous than others can reduce the risk of workplace injuries.
Use protective clothing
Certain jobs require workers to wear protective clothing, shoes, safety glasses, helmets, masks, ear plugs, ear muffs and gloves. Ensuring you are wearing the required protective gear at all times ensures you are not placing yourself at risk of injury.
Take a break
Fatigue is one of the major causes of injury in the workplace. Be sure to take allocated breaks so you can rest and be refreshed to continue on with the task at hand.
Follow inductions and instructions
Employers have employees undertake inductions and workplace training so they are not exposed to undue hazards and place themselves at risk. Adhering to training allows workers to perform their job safely without the need of supervision.
Use tools and machinery as instructed
Tools and machinery need to be operated within manufacturers guidelines for them to be safe to use. Ensuring you are using tools and any machinery within guidelines, and following employers workplace health and safety processes, will circumvent accidents and injuries.
Check your posture
Maintaining correct posture is important to not place undue strain on the body, whether that is sitting at on office desk or out in a depot environment. Using proper lifting techniques and avoiding twisting when lifting heavy objects prevents back injuries and other strains to the body.
Utilise heavy lifting devices
Workplaces impose a weight limit for a person to lift an object ably on their own so they don’t become injured. If the weight limit is to be exceeded, use appropriate devices like lifting trolleys or if you are licensed to do so, a forklift or scissor lift.
Avoid drugs and alcohol
Drugs and alcohol impair our judgement and can cause fatigue. Most workplaces will not allow workers under the influence of drugs or alcohol to work as it significantly increases the chances or accidents, injuries, even death.
Seymour Consultants conduct professional onsite workplace health and safety inspections and can compile a detailed, easy to understand report to help business owners understand any risks associated with their own workplaces.
These comprehensive reports will identify hazards, assess and prioritise risks, detail control measures, provide recommendation for the implementation of the control measures and discuss conducting reviews for compliance.
If you want to make sure your workplace meets it obligations for workplace health and safety, call the professionals at Seymour Consultants today on 07 5573 4011.