Personal injury in the workplace is a very common occurrence. Each year, workers suffer from injuries such as sprains, broken bones, punctures, pains, burns and more. The most common accidents in 2016 were falls, slips and trips, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Other types of incidents that ended up as personal workplace injuries were environmental illnesses, fires and injuries that resulted from workplace violence. The following are some ways you can avoid personal injuries in the workplace:
Follow All Safety Rules
Every place of employment has a set of safety rules that it follows. Those safety rules are put in place to protect all employees from harm. The term “all employees” means you, but it also means the other people that you have to work with every day. Your employer does not want you to make poor decisions that make you liable for someone else’s personal injury. Never cut corners and skip safety procedures for any reason. That’s the golden rule of staying safe on the job.
Clean Your Work Area
It’s a good idea to keep your work area clean at all times, too. Dirty or messy work areas can cause accidents and personal injury incidents, especially if there are a lot of sharp objects around. Cleanup only takes about 15 minutes if you do it right. Take the extra time to protect yourself from harm.
Read Chemical and Equipment Labels
Every chemical that’s in your place of employment should have a label attached to it. This label explains what the chemical is, what it does and what you can and can’t mix with it. Additionally, it contains poison control information that you can read someone who comes in contact with it in the wrong way. Avoid using anything that doesn’t have a label on it, and avoid skipping your lesson. You should always try to read what’s on the label so you know what you’re dealing with a tall times.
Tend to Spills Immediate
A large number of slip and fall personal injury accidents occur because of spills that were not taken care of promptly. If you see something spill on the ground, you should never wait for the cleaning people to get it up as someone could slip and fall by that time. Take a few minutes and mop it up. If you can’t do that, you can at least put a sign out to warn people of the danger.
Wear Protective Gear
If your job requires you to wear certain gear to perform your job, you need to stick by that standard. Wear the gear. It can save you from an unnecessary injury that you may not get much compensation for if you willingly avoided the safety attire.
Report Broken Equipment Right Away
If you see something that is not working properly, you must report it to the management staff as quickly as possible. They can take the item out of use before anyone gets hurt. Additionally, they can have it fixed. Your report can help save the company a lot of money, and it can help a coworker to escape a catastrophe.
Disengage From Fights
Finally, you must avoid workplace brawls at all costs. If you have to ask a supervisor to get in the middle of your fight, that’s fine. Just make sure that you do. Avoiding a fight means staying out of jail, keeping your job and not bringing unnecessary suits against your employers.
Those are just a few things that you can do to reduce personal injury incidents at work. Only you can look out for yourself properly. Don’t rely on anyone else to do it.
Christopher is an author and blogger who is passionate about educating and encouraging safety in the workplace in OKlahoma while working with the Garrett Personal Injury Law Firm in Oklahoma City.