Safety and occupational health

The place where one goes to work to earn an honest life should be safe. Sadly, there are millions of occupational injuries in the US (2.9 million in 2015), thousands of which result in death (4836 in 2015). (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017). Businesses have a responsibility to ensure the safety, security, and welfare of all of its employees as well as everyone else present at the workplace, including clients and visitors. In order to reduce the risk of accident or illness, employers should set up training, tools, and work systems. The workplace can be risky, and a number of things could go wrong. The following are the ten most common causes of workplace accidents and the steps that employers and employees alike should take to prevent them:
Overexertion
Overexertion was the primary cause of workplace injuries in 2016 (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017). These injuries are as a result of kneeling, reaching, crawling, pushing, and lifting. In 2016, overexertion cost U.S businesses over fifteen billion dollars (Liberty Mutual Insurance). A job may not require an employee to lift heavy or large objects, but even light objects like files, stacks of paper, and books can injure the shoulders, neck, or back if an individual uses improper techniques. To prevent overexertion injuries, employers should provide training, safety equipment, and lifting devices for heavy loads while employees should take short breaks if their job involves regular lifting as well as using caution while performing physical tasks.
Shortcuts
People are notoriously lazy and using shortcuts is a somewhat common practice. Be that as it may, when individuals take shortcuts at work, particularly when they are working around dangerous chemicals and machinery, they expose themselves to potential injuries. Shortcuts take many forms such as skipping breaks and failing to wear a hard hat. Shortcuts increase the risk of harm. Rather than permitting employees to take shortcuts, management needs to ensure that they follow safety procedures and that they are aware that the company prioritizes safety over speed.
Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)
This type of injury happens when an individual repeatedly carries out the same movement (for example, clicking on a mouse). When people initially start to experience RSI symptoms, they are uncertain of what is happening. Initially, the effects can be very mild twinges with some tingling or numbness. However, as it develops, the amount of pain also increases until it is with the individual for twenty-four hours, prompting to weeks of agony and disability. Prevention of RSI is much simpler than curing it. If one works in an occupation that puts them at risk of RSI (jobs that require repetitive actions all through the day), you ought to: warm up your muscles before work and cool them down after, ensure a straight posture, ensure you have a comfortable workstation and that you can easily reach everything.
Vehicle Accidents
Numerous industries depend on the utilization of vehicles and trucks such as tractors, diesel trucks, and forklifts. These machines make a wide assortment of jobs conceivable, yet they additionally have a high rate of injury and fatalities for the individuals who use them; 1264 deaths in 2015 (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017). Preventing vehicle-related injuries largely depends on training and appropriately preparing workers.
Hazardous Materials
A few occupations require workers to handle hazardous materials making the workplace dangerous. Hazardous materials can cause skin infections, blindness, respiratory tract infections, and even death. 424 people died in 2015 due to exposure to hazardous materials in the workplace (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017). To prevent these kinds of injuries from happening, all employees must adhere to the protocol for handling dangerous chemicals and materials and wear protective gloves, ensure their body and skin are protected with proper attire, and their eyes and faces are covered with protective glasses. Employers must train employees on the proper handling procedures, evaluate the risks of the hazardous materials they use, and have safety data sheets.
Poor, or Lack of Housekeeping
A poorly organized area leads to perils and dangers. Poor housekeeping hides hazards that result in injuries. If the sight of spills, clutter, and debris are ignored, then more severe health and safety risks are also probably ignored too. The solution for this is proper housekeeping by maintaining order, storing tools out of the way, securing items that might cause injuries and most importantly, inspection to check for deficiencies.
Workplace Violence
In spite of the increased security and restriction of office access, innocent casualties are frequently involved when angry spouses, displeased former workers or even complete strangers appear with the goal of causing harm. Administrators and employees should be vigilant of suspicious packages or mails, telephone threats and evidence of any security infringement. Employers should protect their employees by having strict security protocols for office access.
Slips, Trips, and Falls
Office kitchens and lunchrooms are typical spots where slips happen due to the fluids that get splashed there and remain uncleaned, as well as wet floors after they have been cleaned or waxed. Trips occur due to trailing cables, poor lighting, and an uneven floor surface. Falls were the leading cause of disabling workplace injuries in 2013 (Copeland, 2017). To prevent slips, trips, and falls, employers ought to post signs for hazardous areas such as slippery floors, repair any uneven floors, and provide training for any employee exposed to falling hazards.
Fatigue
If an individual is pushed or pushes themselves past practical limits to remain on top of their workload, the outcomes are frequently physical and mental depletion. This exhaustion leads to impaired judgment, slower reflexes while operating motor vehicles and other machinery, a slow reaction to emergency circumstances and a lack of attention to details. To prevent fatigue-related accidents, employers should create and enforce a strict work schedule that involves breaks while workers should minimize sleep loss, take breaks or naps during shifts (especially night shifts), have healthy sleeping habits. In case other approaches fail then they should consider alert-enhancing medications (Sadeghniiat-Haghighi & Yazdi, 2015).
Disregarding Safety Procedures
Most if not all workplace injuries occur due to employees neglecting safety procedures. Intentionally ignoring these procedures in the work environment not only endangers you, but it also threatens the safety of all other workers. Disregarding safety procedures also includes lack of knowledge of these procedures. Employers should make sure that they educate every employee about the company's' safety procedures. Workers need to ensure that they are following them.
Conclusion
The greater part of common workplace injuries can be prevented as long as both staff and employers consider it as their obligation to avoid mishaps at their place of work. It is the employer's duty to guarantee that safety is enforced in the working environment. They should perform a risk assessment for possible mishaps that could happen and come up with strategies to prevent accidents. Employees should strictly adhere to the wellbeing and security measures adapted by their employers to prevent workplace injuries. Workplace safety ought to be taken seriously and followed correctly.

References
2016 Liberal Mutual Workplace Safety Index. (2017, January). Retrieved from Liberty Mutual Insurance: https://www.libertymutualgroup.com/about-lm/research-institute/communications/workplace-safety-index
Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) - Current and Revised Data. (2017, March 2). Retrieved from Bureau Of Labor Statistics: https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfoi1.htm
Copeland, J. (2017). ainful Statistics on Slips, Trips and Falls. Retrieved from The Arbill Safety Blog: http://www.arbill.com/arbill-safety-blog/bid/203028/Painful-Statistics-on-Slips-Trips-and-Falls
Sadeghniiat-Haghighi, K., & Yazdi, Z. (2015). Fatigue management in the workplace. Industrial Psychiatry Journal, 12-17.