Organizations rely a lot on policies in order to provide direction for workers. Whether these are for safety, purchasing, human resources or another department, they exist for a reason. No matter how well written, researched and thought out a policy is, however, if it is not enforced, a lot of the time and effort goes to waste. Organizations must ensure that all managers and supervisors are doing their job by enforcing policies consistently.
Nobody deserves to be harassed, but to many people when they go to work each day, this is part of their reality. In many jobs, harassment and violence are common. Nurses, teachers, social workers and retail employees are at the greatest risk from violence, but it also occurs in other jobs as well. Companies need to determine the risk factors that exist in their workplaces and eliminate the chance of harassment, bullying and other forms of workplace violence from occurring.
Head injuries can severely affect your life. Brain damage, such as anything from a violent impact caused by car accidents, blows or falls, or a violent shaking or whiplash can be permanent. When a blow, fall or whiplash occurs, the brain tissue is ripped, torn, stretched, battered and bruised; this is then followed by bleeding and swelling. Brain damage can then lead to functional impairments, which will make it difficult to return to a normal lifestyle. Examples of functional impairments include: loss of memory, mood swings, fatigue. With this in mind, protective headwear provided by hard hats and other helmets becomes more important in order to maintain your health and quality of life.
A clean workplace is a safe workplace. This is why housekeeping is such an important part of safety. Most people think that housekeeping simply involves picking scrap material off the floor to prevent slips, trips and falls. While this is part of the process, a good workplace housekeeping policy will have more parts, and will help in the elimination of injuries at the workplace.
Safety professionals try to prevent injuries from occurring as much as possible. Sometimes, though, an incident will still occur that causes a worker to be injured or an illness can affect a worker. When this happens, the recovery process may take some time. At this point an employer must be able to accommodate the worker. A return to work program allows the employer, the employee and the employee’s doctor to determine what duties an employee can perform and how long they need to be on modified duties.
