Ways You Can Look After Your Own Safety In The Workplace

Although your workplace may have safety protocols and procedures in place, and you’re receiving regular training and equipment it’s still important to take care of your own safety too. This is why your workplace safety doesn’t just stop with your employer. You as the employee also needs to be committed to workplace safety. 

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Have a look below at some of the ways you can help improve your workplace safety:

Be Aware Of The Hazards Of Your Job

It’s good working practice to make sure that you’re fully aware of the potential hazards in your place of work. Your job as an employee is to ensure your health and safety at work is adhered to. Most employees will receive safety training when they start a job, however, on ocasions this can be missed. As time passes in a job rolw it can be very easy to become complacent and forget about the importance of safety. By making sure you are remaining aware of your surroundings, and keeping a watch out for new and unfamiliar hazards you’re able to avoid most accidents that occur in the workplace. Even if you are doing the same task for the hundredth time, make sure you apply full concentration, and follow the right safety precautions, they’re there for a reason. This is when accidents can happen if they do you may need to seek the advice of a personal injury law firm with a strong reputation. If you come across new hazards and they appear more reuglar then it’s a good idea to inform management as it may need to be included in future training. 

Handle Tools The Right Way

If you’re using tools on a regular basis it can become very easy to start using them lazily and in the wrong way and taking any shortcuts is a big NO at the workplace. Taking shortcuts not only impacts the quality of your work but it also puts your safety risk. Not mention other colleagues safety.  Common things that can become lazy included areas such as needing to use a mask for protection from dust or incorrectly using scaffolding. Still, you see an increase in employees using tools incorrectly the longer they have been using them. It can lead to injury, illnesses and in some cases death so, it’s just not worth it. Whether you’re just starting to use a particular tool or you have been using it for a while you should make sure you’re compliant with the safety guidelines. Never try to cut time if it means using your equipment wrong. 

Don’t Allow Workplace Stress To Take Over

A common reason that numerous workplace-related accidents and injuries occur is due to workplace stress. When a worker is stressed, they are not able to stay alert and often lose concentration. This could not only lead to costly mistakes, which end up being fatal but also tasks not getting completed. Some of the most common reasons for workplace stress include: 

• Heavy Workload
• Long Hours
• Conflicts
• Job Insecurity
• Lack Of Training

If you are ever feeling stressed or burned out, aim to find the source and if needed seek professional help. You should also discuss any concerns with a supervisor or manager. You can then put steps into place to help tackle any work-related stress. If you have difficult task try completing them first to minimise and potential dangers. Make sure you take regular breaks and can identify the signs of being burned out and tired. 

Maintain Correct Posture

You might not realise it, but one of the biggest risk factors for a employees is sitting at a desk. It’s far too easy to sit incorrectly with bad posture and seriously injure yourself in the process. If you repeatedly sit incorrectly and remain hunched over your desk, then you could end up risking your back, neck, and shoulders. This could lead to health problems which mean you’re unfit for work. Most employees spend their day at their desk so it’s important to make sure you are remembering to take regular breaks away, try completing a task that requires you to stand or go for a quick circle around the office. If your employer doesn’t already it’s advisable to have specialist furniture that can enable employees to stand or sit their desk and have adequate back support from their chair. Not only this it’s important to complete regular checks to make sure employees are comfortable. 

These are just three ways that you can look after your own safety in the workplace, do you have any others that you can share in the comments section below?