How to Reduce Workplace Injuries

Improve Safety at Work to Reduce Injuries

By Tim Clark - MAY 10, 2021

Every company wants to reduce the number and severity of workplace injuries — to protect workers, cut down on lost work days, and lower costs — but most safety and wellness plans never go far enough. There is more involved than safety talks, warning signs, and initial training. Take a look at how you can go above and beyond when it comes to improving workplace safety and reducing injuries... without additional safety hires or spending large sums. 

1. Create a Safety Culture - Safety must come from the top down and there has to be "buy-in" at every level in the company. Posting safety signs in the breakroom is not enough, nor are the weekly "tool talks". You will keep workers safe when they know that safety is a priority at every level. Give employees proper equipment to do their jobs but also take their suggestions on ways to improve work efficiency. Give incentives for those who stay safe and that provide safety ideas that get implemented. 
2. Provide Adequate Training - Beyond basic training of their job and their equipment when employees start, be sure to continually train your workers. Provide intermediate and expert level courses and your workers will not only stay safer, but they can advance within the company and help train new employees. Utilize trainers from outside your company to keep everyone up to date on how things are done elsewhere and you may find more effective and efficient ways of doing things.
3. Hire the Optimal Number of Employees - Hiring qualified workers is never easy and shortages abound. But when employees have to work overtime or work excessively hard because they're understaffed are prone to injuries, more sick days, and leaving the company. By having the right number of people in your facilities, you'll still be able to hit quotas and maintain your budgets, because you'll have less lost work time and productivity because fewer workers will get injured or burned out and leave (which requires time and money to find and train new people.) 
4. Check and Maintain Equipment - Routinely inspecting equipment and conducting repairs and upgrades will help keep workers safe. Start by posting visual and verbal operation instructions near or on every piece of equipment. Post warnings when equipment is under repair or being maintained. Replace defective or outdated equipment. Regularly check with manufacturers on equipment recalls or known defects/issues/warnings. 
5. Provide Safety Equipment - It should go without saying that workers who need helmets, goggles, and safety vests should be so equipped. But don't forget to go above and beyond. Do they have the right type of shoes—and a shoe allowance—for proper protection? Do they need insoles? (Read one of our recent studies on the effects of proper insoles.) Do they need supporting back belts? With the right equipment in place, you'll save money down the road and have happier, safer workers. 
6. Track Incidents & Outcomes - Recording any incidents in your facility is most likely a given. But it is vital to track the locations, the workers involved, the time of day, and which location they occur at. Why? Knowing where an injury happened can let you know of unsafe practices, faulty equipment, or even an inefficient process that can go unnoticed and cause additional accidents in the future. Track and record as many details beyond the person(s) involved and inspect the conditions and devices and warning signs around the areas. 
7. Conduct Human Performance Evaluations - When you make the effort to proactively eliminate common injuries with a thorough jobsite analysis and adding a pre-work program, you'll cut down on MSDs and repetitive motion incidents. Conduct personalized job coaching and implement preventative programs, for example: pre-shift warmups or micro-breaks. Tailor stretching, as well as flexing and strengthening routines, to workers at specific stations or job types, to enrich your injury prevention program. 

When you do go beyond the typical workplace safety programs, you'll see even better results—thus augmenting your safety team without hiring additional people—that reduces work-related injuries, improves worker morale, increased productivity, and lowers your costs. 

Discover how you can implement a virtual workplace injury prevention program in your manufacturing or industrial company. Talk to Health Roster now to learn how we help with remote injury prevention, virtual ergonomic evaluations, and telehealth incident triage so that you can affordably supplement your safety team and keep employees healthy, safe, and active: