Did you know that April 4-10 is National Public Health Week?! That's right, five whole days dedicated to public health. While each day focuses on something a little different, here over at the NWCOHS we're most excited for Tuesday's focus on Worker Safety!!
With employers and employees working together, a safer work environment can be built. While its great to look at the big picture, starting off small can make it easier to implement safer practices at work on a daily basis.
Here are a few tips from APHA:
Employers start small...
- Understand and follow all workplace safety regulations and best practices. Go beyond the minimum required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
- Educate employees about workplace regulations and train employees to recognize unsafe or unhealthy settings. Create an employee reporting system to allow workers to report hazardous working conditions.
- Create safe work environments by identifying and fixing workplace hazards such as unstable surfaces and malfunctioning vehicles.
- Promote workplace safety by offering tips on your company bulletin board, website or newsletter.
- Conduct personal safety training programs that teach employees how to recognize, avoid or diffuse potentially violent workplace situations.
- Wear all personal protective equipment required or recommended for your occupation.
- Participate in worksite safety trainings programs and follow all workplace laws and safety rules.
- Ensure vision is not obstructed when operating heavy machinery.
- Hold a brown-bag lunch at work to focus on workplace safety.
- Use your rights to advocate for safety and health.
Think big…
- Write a letter to the editor of your local paper about the importance of preventing workplace injuries during National Public Health Week (NPHW) and beyond.
- Invite local policymakers and others to a community roundtable to discuss injury prevention in the workplace and follow-up with specific actions.
- Support your family, friends and neighbors when they try to improve health and safety at their workplace.
*image from: NPHW
Introduction to OHSAS 18001 Training will help you to comply with the legislation and devise a system to ensure a safe environment in the workplace. Health and safety in the workplace is an issue that affects all businesses. Implementation of an occupational health and safety system has now been mandated by law in many countries. It will also introduce a management system to help reduce the risk of accidents, litigation and downtime.
ReplyDeleteVery good points for both employers and employees
ReplyDelete