Tag: Weekly Safety Message 18

We are all trained to report any near misses, injuries, or incidents to a supervisor or safety representative. Oftentimes, however, many of these incidents, especially first-aid type injuries, are not reported. Injuries are not reported because of many different reasons, but it is important to understand why all of them need to be.

Reasons Why Incidents Go Unreported

There are many reasons why incidents such as property damage, near misses, spills, and injuries go unreported. A major reason is often the individual’s pride. Most people do not want to admit their mistakes to others, especially at work. They may also fear the outcome of sharing what occurred with a supervisor.

This fear may come from being afraid of being disciplined, what others think, or the repercussions of the incident. Another reason a person may not want to report an incident is because of the paperwork or energy involved in doing so. There are many other reasons why an individual may not want to share what happened to them, but this should never be the case.

Why it is Important to Report Injuries

There are many reasons why you should report any type of injury, no matter the severity. The most important reason is to make sure the situation or hazard is made safe for not only yourself, but the others at the worksite. Another reason is to share your experience or the lessons learned from the incident with others to prevent it from occurring in the future.

With injuries, even just minor ones, it is important to get them looked at by a supervisor or safety representative. While many injuries, such as a small cut or an insect sting, may not seem like a big deal, they can turn into one.

A quick example: You are bit by some type of insect on a Friday afternoon at work, but decide not to tell anyone for various reasons. You leave work and are home for a few hours when you notice that the bite area is beginning to swell up. Along with the swelling, you notice that you have hives and are having trouble breathing. You realize it is a serious allergic reaction and needs medical attention. You tell the doctor you were bit or stung at work, and the treatment he gives you ends up being considered “medical attention.”

Because it happened at work and you needed medical attention beyond first aid, it is now an OSHA recordable injury. In this situation, there are a few problems since the injury was not reported to someone at work immediately.

1. There is no record or witness to it happening at work, which could raise concern by the employer whether or not the injury occurred at work. This may end up in a drawn-out dispute since there have been many people in the past who have faked or had injuries off the job, but stated it occurred at work in an attempt for it to be paid through worker’s compensation.

2. If the injury was reported immediately, someone may have been able to recognize that it may develop into an allergic reaction. There could have been options for first aid instead of medical treatment to treat the issue before it worsened, which would have saved you a trip to the hospital and the company an OSHA recordable.

Summary

All injuries need to be reported, no matter how small. Not only does it protect you, but it also protects the company as a whole by possibly preventing a first aid injury from progressing into an OSHA recordable. You never know when something that seems minor in nature will develop into something more serious. There are also always lessons that can be learned, even from just minor injuries, to prevent others from occurring in the future.

Report All Injuries – Safety Talk Ideas

Relying on Memory Safety Talk

The human memory can be an amazing thing, but it is also very flawed. While there are people that can remember small details about an event decades later, others cannot remember where they set their wallet down.

Recognizing a hazard and just making a mental note of it is not a mitigation action. Memory should never be relied on as the sole safeguard against a hazard. If this is the case, the hazard is not mitigated.

Short Term Memory Facts

While many things we learn make it into our long-term memory, many details we face on a day-to-day basis only may only hit our short-term memory. Relying on short-term memory as a safeguard is extremely dangerous because of how limited it can be.

SimplyPsychology.com states that short-term memory has three key aspects:

1. Limited capacity- Only about seven items can be stored at one time.
2. Limited duration- Storage is very fragile, and information can be lost with distraction or passage of time.
3. Encoding- Primarily acoustic, even translating visual information into sounds.

Looking at these three aspects, it is easy to see why short-term memory is not a reliable way to protect ourselves from the hazards of our work.

Memory and Hazards

There are many hazards that can be found on a worksite that should be eliminated instead of relying on memory that they are there. Some examples of these types of hazards:

• Pinch points or moving parts of machinery. Wherever possible, pinch points or any place where someone can have their hands or body parts injured should always be guarded. Relying on memory to keep your body parts out of these areas or hoping that PPE will protect you if you are in the line of fire is unrealistic.
• Fixed objects. Objects that are in a work area where they can be struck or create trip hazards should also be protected or removed. On a construction site, for example, there are a lot of objects that can be struck by heavy equipment, creating costly property damage incidents. Because of blind spots, operators have to rely on their memory that an object is there if other safeguards are not put in place. Safeguards such as using a spotter, physical barriers, orange fencing, a bright marker like a flag, or removing the object altogether are some ways to prevent a struck-by incident of a fixed object.
• Incorrect job steps. Many work processes in a variety of industries require specific ordered steps that need to be followed to ensure safe and efficient operations. When individuals rely on memory to ensure all job steps, including the necessary safety measures, are taken, errors can be made, resulting in injury or loss of production. Safeguards such as proper training, job safety analyses, labels, standard operating procedures, step-by-step guides, operating manuals, verification processes, etc., are some ways to help mitigate memory error.

Summary

The human memory can be amazing as well as very unreliable. It is important to look at the different work tasks you complete throughout the day and look to eliminate hazards whenever possible. Secondly, look at other safeguards to try to protect yourself and others from these hazards instead of relying on your memory. Your memory is not a safeguard, and it is bound to fail over time.

Relying on Memory

Unsafe Conditions Safety Talk

Unsafe conditions will always exist in the world around us. That being said, it is possible to eliminate the majority of the hazards found in our workplaces in order to prevent injuries on the job. It is necessary not only to recognize that these kinds of conditions exist around you but also to take action to eliminate or mitigate them. This safety talk discusses common unsafe conditions and mitigation actions to address the conditions.

Two Common Types of Unsafe Conditions

There is an endless list of possible unsafe conditions found on the job. Two types that can be found in almost any workplace are slip, trip, and fall hazards and pinch point hazards.

1. Slips, trips, and falls are responsible for many injuries on the job year after year. Many of these incidents are a direct result of an unsafe condition. Objects on the ground are a common example. Other unsafe conditions that lead to slips, trips, and fall injuries include slippery floors, unmarked changes in elevations in walking surfaces, cluttered work areas, unprotected edges, open holes, etc.
2. Pinch points are also commonly found in workplaces. Pinch points are defined as any point where it is possible for a body part to be caught between moving and stationary portions of equipment. Pinch points can come in a variety of shapes and sizes. A couple of examples of unsafe conditions relating to pinch points are points of operation on machinery, unguarded moving equipment, and rotating parts.

Addressing Unsafe Conditions

Depending on what the unsafe condition is, it will determine what action is needed to correct it. A basic overview of addressing any hazard in the workplace:

• Stop and take the time to evaluate your work area and work task.
• Recognize unsafe conditions or what can possibly turn into one.
• Take action to immediately correct the condition if possible.
• Stop work and involve other personnel to have the condition corrected if the situation requires you to do so.
• Follow through to ensure any hazards you identified are properly mitigated.
• Continue to evaluate your work area throughout the workday for possible new hazards.

Summary

Unsafe conditions do exist all around us, and it is true that not every single possible hazard in life can be eliminated. However, we all can take ownership and responsibility for the work that we do to eliminate the ones we identify. Every unsafe condition that is corrected results in a lesser risk of someone being injured on the job.

Discussion point

1. What are some other examples of unsafe conditions that can be found at our worksite?