TOP 10 PREVENTABLE WORKPLACE INJURIES
Workplace injuries impact both the employees and the employers. Injured employees face potential physical, emotional and financial harm. Employers face both a direct cost such as medical care, and the indirect cost of work flow interruptions.
Please see the FREAS SharePoint page under Safety for more information on this topic and a list of all previous Weekly Safety Messages issued this year.

Extended Safety Message:
The top 10 preventable workplace injuries according to the 2018 Liberty Mutual Workplace Index are:
1. Overexertion Involving Outside Sources
Injuries from lifting, pushing, pulling, holding, carrying or throwing objects.
2. Falls on Same Level
Employees are at risk for sprains, strains, lacerations or worse especially if they fall into surrounding objects.
3. Falls to a Lower Level
Falls from ladders, through floor holes or sky lights, from scaffolding, on stairways, from roofs or from large equipment.
4. Struck by Objects or Equipment
When work is done at heights, large equipment is in use, or materials are stored vertically there can be a great risk for employees to be struck by falling objects or moving equipment.
5. Other Exertions or Bodily Reactions
These are typically non-impact but occur when a body reacts or responds to something unexpected or has an injury due to a vigorous or strenuous effort.
6. Roadway Incidents Involving Motorized Vehicles
Employees who drive for business purposes may have more opportunity to be injured in vehicle collision and are also susceptible to distracted and drowsy driving.
7. Slips or Trips Without a Fall
Reaction injuries occur when an employee slips or trips but doesn’t fall down. The stress of the reaction to correct the body to upright can cause muscle strain, twisted ankles, or other trauma.
8. Caught In/Compressed by Equipment or Objects
Caught-in injuries, such as machine entanglement, are one of the top 4 serious incidents that occur in a plant (mechanical room) setting.
9. Struck Against Objects or Equipment
When employees unintentionally walk into equipment, walls, debris or furniture in the workplace it is common to have head, knee, neck and foot bruising, sprains and injuries.
10. Repetitive Motions Involving Micro-Tasks
Working on the computer or performing the same task on the assembly line day after day can strain muscles and tendons which may cause back pain, vision problems and CTS.