Workplace accidents cannot be avoided completely.
It doesn’t matter what occupation you work in whether it be in an office, on a building site or in a busy kitchen at some point one of your employees is going to be involved in an accident.
From 2014-15 there were 76,000 injuries reported in the workplace across the UK and it accumulated to a total of 27.3 million days lost either through a workplace injury or a workplace illness.
We want to focus on how to effectively reduce accidents at work and give you some tips on how to achieve this. There might not have been an accident in your office for the last 5 years but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to take precautions to reduce any accidents in the future.
Assessing and Controlling Risks
Really the most straightforward way in which to reduce accidents at work is to implement and maintain a proper risk assessment policy.
This means identifying not only current risks but controlling what could become future risks. For example rather than relying on old equipment that has worked fine for years carry out a risk assessment on how it may work in the near future.
Spending money replacing old equipment is a far better policy than having to first deal with a workplace accident due to that equipment and then managing the aftermath of an employee being injured and off work.
Proper Staff Training
This is another area that is vital in reducing accidents in the workplace.
In fact, the majority of workplace accidents can be avoided by properly training staff in their roles. It also extends to training them in other areas of the business’ activity to ensure that health and safety is maintained across the board.
By having your employee’s sufficiently trained to not only deal with their own jobs but also to stay safe in the workplace in general you can vastly reduce the likelihood of an accident occurring.
Assigning Responsibilities To Employee’s
It is all very well having health and safety procedures in place but if there is no-one to implement them or ensure that they are being followed then the whole purpose is defeated.
This can mean either sharing the responsibility amongst existing employees or bring someone else in to oversee health and safety in your workplace.
By having a point of contact that manages health and safety requirements and holds regular meetings around risk assessments and accident prevention you can significantly reduce the chance of an accident at work.
Accident Investigation and Future Prevention
You might have the most effective accident reduction and risk assessment policy in place but accidents will happen at some point.
They key here is how you learn from them. Rather than covering it up or simply putting it down to the employee’s fault, actively learn how to prevent the same thing happening in the future.
This includes conducting an internal investigation into how the accident happened and what can be done to prevent it happening again.
Health and safety might get a bad reputation these days but it is a critical component of an effective and safe workplace.
Rather than hoping an accident won’t happen at work take appropriate measures to ensure that the chances of someone being injured in the future are significantly reduced.
