I Didn’t Know – 10/25/2021

Safety E-QuickTips

U.S. Compliance Systems, Inc.

Monday Oct 25, 2021

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I Didn’t Know

At the end of the day there’s a good chance that 15 employees will not be heading home to be with their family and friends or to enjoy their time off. In fact, they won’t be heading anywhere ever again.

Who are those 15 people and how will their lives come to an end?

That’s a good question, but what you should really be asking is what you can do now to help prevent those accidents from happening at your workplace.

Merriam-Webster’s definition of an accident is “a sudden event (such as a crash) that is not planned or intended and that causes damage or injury.”

Based on Webster’s definition it would make sense that if we are going to prevent an accident, we need to do everything we can beforehand to prevent it because we are not going to be given any notice.

So, what can we do?

That brings us to step 2 of implementing and maintaining workplace safety.

We need to “educate employees to prevent exposure to workplace hazards.”

When it comes to workplace hazards, sometimes we don’t understand the hazard or the hazard might be one of those hidden ones lurking around the corner, just waiting for us.

Or maybe it’s a hazard we are aware of but sometimes believe our superhuman powers will kick in and protect us.

I had an employee on a construction site tell me he wouldn’t wear fall protection while in the bucket of an aerial lift because if it happened to tip over it would prevent him from jumping out of the basket away to safety as it crashed to the ground.

Not knowing how to respond to that I asked if he thought tying off while he was in the bucket might protect him from a fall if he happened to lean too far out or if he was thrown off balance as he moved the bucket while it was elevated.

His answer, “That would never happen because I would catch myself.”

Remember Webster’s definition of an accident that says sudden and unexpected. Apparently, he didn’t understand that.

When it comes to workplace accidents, sometimes we need to be reminded that we are not superhuman and that we don’t know everything. Because if we don’t, we might become one of those 15 who die today on the job.

Employee QuickTip

When it comes to learning about how to protect yourself from workplace hazards, there is no question it is not exciting, mind-stimulating information. In fact, it can be boring.

But as boring as it may be, it could just save your life.

Employer/Management QuickTip

It’s tough to take any time out of the workday to educate employees regarding hazards in the workplace. Even a few minutes at the start of each workday will go a long way in preventing workplace accidents.

Last chance!

October is National Protect Your Hearing Month, and we are providing our Noise Exposure/Hearing Conservation Online Training for FREE.

To participate, employees only need to be enrolled in the Noise Exposure/Hearing Conservation Training between October 1-31st, 2021. There is no limit to how many employees you can enroll in the course for free.

Go to uscompliancesystems.com and login into your account, click on the Online Training System and sign your employees up. If you are not a client, sign-up for your free Online Training Account and start enrolling your employees in the free course.

Provide your employees the information they need this month to help protect their hearing for the future. 

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Thanks for Reading and Please – Stay Healthy and Work Safe.