Improving Worker Safety: How to Keep Your Plant or Facility Accident Free

By: Rick Pedley, Contributor

Being approachable and leaving the door open for feedback will help pave the way for safety improvements. Image courtesy of PK Safety.

Without a plan for worker safety, your business will suffer from accidents and equipment failures. Avoid these problems by thinking about safety from the start.

Worker safety and productivity go hand-in-hand. Workplace safety and health are key motivating factors for employee productivity and engagement. When leadership promotes a healthy work culture, they take steps to eliminate preventable accidents and injuries. As leadership, it’s your job to make sure that everyone has what they need to stay safe, from the rules on your worksite to the equipment you provide.

Luckily, it’s easy to break down the essentials of workplace safety: a good safety culture is made when people at the top follow the rules and provide good equipment and training. This allows good safety practices to be modeled for the workers and keep everyone happy and healthy. Here are six ways to prevent workplace accidents and keep your workers safe.

Follow the Standards

As an employer, you’re responsible for complying with federal and state safety measures for your industry. Stay on top of OSHA and other relevant regulations, especially the General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1) of the OSHA Act: employees should have a workplace that’s reasonably free of hazards that can hurt or kill them. This protection can include everything from administrative controls to providing PPE, depending on your industry, so do your reading ahead of time. In the event of ambiguity, err on the side of providing a safer workplace.

When performing machinery or building checks, make sure that employees are using PPE at all times. Image courtesy of PK Safety.

Start (and Continue) Safety Training

Safety-focused training should be mandatory for new workers, especially anyone who will be using and maintaining any complex equipment. This doesn’t just mean new hires only because machines and technology can evolve, and everyone, including long-term employees, should go through the same exercises on the same equipment. This can be done over a few days each year to keep everyone updated. A test at the end of the training can help confirm that learning and retention took place. It might seem like a lot of time set aside for something very basic, but it’s less time than an accident would set your work back.

Keep Equipment in Good Working Order

Your PPE, heavy machinery and other equipment should be in good repair. Pay attention to how your gear performs, especially as it gets closer to the end of its service life, and make the appropriate repairs or replacements as needed. Do your proactive and preventative maintenance as well by keeping machines well-lubricated and performing inspections or tests for any safety equipment that someone will take or wear on the job.

Keep Things Neat and Organized

Going the extra mile to ensure that things are tidy is vital to preventing accidents. It might not seem worth it to stop your workflow in order to put something away, but organizing and cleaning can significantly reduce the risk of accidents. Keep walkways clear of obstructions, spilled liquids and other tripping hazards. Resolving these problems as soon as they happen removes the hazard entirely, so everyone can continue working as usual. No amount of preparation and keeping things in order is a waste of time: if you don’t have the time to do things right the first time, you won’t have the time to do it over again.

Schedule and Perform Routine Checks

Risk assessments and other routine checks are crucial for finding anything that could cause harm. Look for anything that could become a hazard—fall risks, ergonomic hazards, exposure to harmful temperatures or atmospheres, poor lighting, unlabeled systems or pipes and anything else that can affect employee health and safety. You should also think about how serious those risks are and how likely it is that each worker will experience that hazard while doing their job. These risk assessments will be more effective with an outside inspector that’s less likely to overlook something that you see all the time.

When performing machinery or building checks, you’ll need to make sure of the following:

• Employees are using PPE at all times
• Proactive maintenance is performed on machinery once Lockout/Tagout procedures have taken place
• Walkways and stairways don’t have any debris
• The emergency exits are unlocked and easily accessible
• Cords are put away
• All surfaces are clean and dry
• Chipped concrete or other holes are covered or smoothed out

Develop a Robust Culture of Safety

If you’re expecting your employees to be safe on the job, as their employer or department head, you should demonstrate a commitment to safety as well. You can’t force people to be safe unless you make it easy, safe and positive for them to do so on their own. Don’t tolerate shortcuts or slip-ups—the one time you look away instead of putting your welding helmet back on, don’t wear cut-resistant gloves when doing a quick cut with a sharp blade, or anything else could be the moment when an accident happens. Invest in new systems for communication and accountability to ensure that everyone can play a role in the maintenance of your safety culture. Stay approachable and leave the door open for feedback and potential improvements. WMHS

Rick Pedley, PK Safety’s President and CEO, joined the family business in 1979. PK Safety, a supplier of occupational safety and personal protective equipment and manufacturer of its own new FR line GRIT, has been operating since 1947 and takes OSHA, ANSI, PPE and CSA work safety equipment seriously. Speak with safety experts at 800-829-9580 or online at www.pksafety.com/contact-us/.