Businesses are full of workplace accidents waiting to happen. No matter how vigilant your HR department might be, there can be a disaster just waiting at your company. Something as simple as an uneven or cracked sidewalk in front of your storefront can prove hazardous to your employees’ health.
But spotting a potential trip-and-fall injury trap can be difficult if you’re not paying attention. Steven Schwartzapfel, a lawyer at fightingforyou.com explains why, "Essentially, any type of uneven or slippery walking surface can spell trouble for pedestrians, whether on the streets, at work, or in restaurants and retail establishments. These types of incidents are often the responsibility of the property owner or municipality that failed to fix the dangerous or defective condition."
Sorting out the financial responsibility for that trip and fall, as your employee goes through the 6-months of therapy to try and get her back working again, will be messy and her medical bills could be huge. So here are 3 tips for avoiding common accident situations at your business.
1. Look Where You’re Going
Our smartphones are absolutely fascinating. The gaming’s terrific. There’s so much News and information. There’s always just one more text to answer. And catching up on the last night’s basketball championship highlights are right in the palm of your hand. It’s hard to take your eyes off that smartphone.
But one of the biggest causes of workplace accidents, from trip and falls, to running into another person, or a truck at a loading dock, or even stepping off the patio and right into a swimming pool, fully-clothed, are because we simply don’t look where we’re going.
Employees should be encouraged to make it a habit when they’re surfing their smartphone to look up from it every minute or so. Re-check into the world and glance around them for possible hazards. If they see anything that makes them the least bit uncomfortable, they should holster their phone and change location. Once everything around them checks out okay again, they can dive right back into Pokémon Go without missing a lucky egg.
2. Slow Down
According to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, pronounced "NITS-uh"), one of the chief causes of automobile accidents is speeding. Most slip and fall accidents that happen around swimming pools result from people, especially children, running. The number one way in which people get hit by automobiles is caused by running. So, since moving quickly, by any means, can be a prelude to danger, why not slow down a little?
Employees usually rush because they are late. Punctuality can be important but is it worth putting a life at risk? The real reason that we all seem to be rushing much of the time is that we are impatient because of the crowded world in which we live.
We are constantly confronted by queues where we are forced to wait for some essential service or opportunity. That’s just the reality of urban life. Try to learn to live with this inconvenient fact rather than trying to fight or beat it all the time.
3. Analyze Your Drinking
A little sip of wine at the office holiday party may help us all relax, especially at the end of a hectic business day, but alcohol does have a deleterious effect upon not only our reasoning but also our coordination and vision as well. Many of us are not aware of the actual effect that alcohol intake has upon our bodies when it comes to workplace accidents.
Depending on the individual’s age, weight, and gender, the liver can typically metabolize about one serving of alcohol per hour. Therefore, consuming more than one beverage per hour can result in intoxication. As blood alcohol content (BAC) rises, people develop different signs of intoxication, which can lead to passing out, vomiting, stumbling, falling, and even alcohol poisoning.
A BAC of around 0.05 percent normally results from consumption of between one and two drinks per hour. This amount of drinking will probably lead to less inhibition. Your judgment and reaction times may be somewhat compromised, but certainly not to dangerous levels.
Now if you double that alcohol intake rate to between 2-4 drinks per hour, your BAC will reach the danger zone – 0.08 percent, which means you are no longer legally safe to drive anywhere in the United States. And you’re not safe to do much else, either. Your speech will slur and your balance will be impaired. You are now an accident waiting to happen and it could really damage your reputation.
Encourage your employees to count their drinks and keep aware of their intake, especially at any company function or office party. This little suggestion can save your business, and your employees, a lot of trouble.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post about the top tips for avoiding accidents and injuries at your business.
Interested in more articles about preventing employee injuries?
Read Related Resources:
• How To Better Manage Workers In High Risk Industries
• All About The Worker's Compensation Claims Process
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