Sept 08 2005

The Worker's Corner - Worker Safety

Employer, Safety in the Workplace


Employer - workplace safety is your responsibility. Workers are being injured on the job at an alarming rate. Many of these injuries are a result of employers who are unaware of risks and who also might not know important worksite details encountered daily by their employees. Some employers are wearing blinders, some are ignorant, some are cutting corners. Many injuries could be eliminated by encorporating proper ergonomic equipment and meeting the increase in workload with an increase in hours. When shortcuts are made it is the employee that suffers, sometimes with lifelong disruption to their bodies and their lives. The employer will also feel the crunch in many ways...time to retrain substitutes, or replacement workers, paperwork, and even lawsuits can be the injury to the employer. It's just good business and good humanity to do your best to ensure worker safety.

Here are some of what you can do...some of the basics:

Be sure you are aware and up to date on regulations pertaining to your business in regards to your employees, insurance requirements and safety regulations.

Maintain a safety committee and meet often.

If your employees know who to talk to it can help enormously in communication and quick response.

Make available the committee meeting minutes to all of your employees.

All should have access to meeting topics, findings and decisions from each safety meeting.

A safety committe can help identify onsite dangers and make recommendations to correct problems.

Include workers from all departments on this committee.

Make sure all employees are aware that you have a safety committee and be sure to give all employees an opportunity to be chosen to serve on the committee.

Listen carefully. If an employee has concerns it is to everyones best interests to listen and act.

If it is a simple matter of replacing worn, unsafe or dangerous equipment, purchasing equipment to help allieviate repetive motion injuries for example, this should be done without delay.

Taking safety classes and hiring a safety consultant for yourself and supervisorsis always a great way to start out.

Here's a simple check-list to assist you in maintaining a safe workplace:

Inspect the workplace on a regular basis.
Make sure fire lanes are well marked and consistently enforce "no parking" in fire lanes and near hydrants!

Make sure new and substitiute workers have emergency information for the site.

Make sure all have phone lists and the other important emergency (building relevant) information available (wallet cards, breakroom charts, etc)

Provide on the job safety classes and make these madatory for all employees.

Be certain all employees have the required and logical safety training and re-training.

Have and maintain personal protective equipment.

Be certain all safety equipment is in good condition and available to all employees.

Do not direct an employee to perform work that is dangerous.

Keep a safety bulletin board and be sure it is accessible to all.

Instruct employees to record on the job injuries and be sure injury report forms are easily available.

Reward good safety practices...verbal, written, notices, certificates, pay bonuses.

Know the law and regulations. Safety and health regulations vary state to state and around the world.

Do be aware that a worker has the right to refuse a task that he/she feels is unsafe.

Be sure your employees feel comfortable about coming to you with concerns. Keep lines of communication open and friendly.

For more information on responsibilities, regulations and safety guidlines for employers in Washington state visit The washington State Deptartment of Labor and Industries website at:
http://www.lni.wa.gov/
Washington State Labor & Industries:
PO Box 44000
Olympia, WA 98504-4000

Other resources:
Occupational Safey & Health Administration - http://www.osha.gov/
U.S. Department of Labor - http://www.dol.gov/
Occupational Safety & Health Administration
200 Constitution Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20210

information gleaned from the web and from on the job experiences - compiled and written by:
Bon Banks, Bellingham, WA

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