Workplace Safety Tips – My Top Ten List

Maintaining a safe workplace is almost, but not quite, totally different than following OSHA standards. If your goal is to comply with OSHA regulations at the lowest initial cost, then I suggest you look elsewhere. However, if you’re really interested in keeping your employees safe and productive at your workplace, here are some workplace safety tips for you. They might even help you meet some OSHA regulations on the road.

My Top Ten Workplace Safety Tips:

1. Maintain a clean work area. Not only will you remove many hazards from a work area by keeping it clean, but you will also provide a more productive work environment for your employees.
2. Use protectors and engineered solutions whenever possible instead of relying on PPE – Personal Protective Equipment. PPE is difficult to monitor and uncomfortable to wear. First, find a way to prevent exposure. Your workers will be much more productive if they are comfortable
3. Assume that your employees want to work safely, and give them that opportunity. Many safety incentive programs seemed to be based on the idea that employees want to get hurt and have to be bribed out of reaching into the machine. If you have such an idea, then these tips are not for you.
4. Give clear work instructions. Make sure your employees know the right way to do what you expect of them. Don’t give them a list of things not to do. Include safety instructions in every procedure you write.
5. Don’t stop at the worst case scenarios, but focus on what is most likely to happen. Start by focusing your energy on preventing the most common incidents. That means you’ll have to keep an accurate OSHA incident record even if it looks bad to some manager you report to.
6. Love your employees. Don’t confuse this with something that could lead to a sexual harassment claim. I mean, care about your employees and let them know that you do. If a machine becomes unsafe, turn it off before someone gets hurt.
7. Spend time getting to know the work your employees do. Even if you’ve ever done that job, chances are different people will do it differently. Look at what people are actually doing and compare it to what is written in the procedures. If the procedures are different from actual practice, find out why.
8. Keep machinery in good working order. Employees often find themselves in dangerous situations when they have to compensate for a defect or wear on the machine. In the case of wear, it may have occurred so gradually that they think it is normal. A strong preventative maintenance program contributes to a strong safety program.
9. Avoid unnecessary dangers. Look for new materials or equipment that can eliminate the hazards your workers are exposed to.
10. Maintain a clean work area. See workplace safety tip number one above. Potential exposures to hazardous materials and conditions can be drastically reduced simply by keeping the work area clean. And the benefit in productivity and employee morale is worth it, even without the safety incentive.