Tips on how to prevent workplace injuries

Implementing a workplace safety program can take awhile as employees need to adjust to changes and this isn't always easy for them. Preventing workplace injuries is one of the best things you will ever do for your company as it will dramatically reduce insurance costs and several other expenses for your business. It you are looking to prevent workplace injuries, here are some tips that will help you get started so you can start cutting expenses.

• State and Federal Regulations
• Injury Prevention
• Company Policy

These are the 3 most important things you must consider when you are putting together an injury prevention program. Initially the safety program is not going to be cheap but it will start to pay for itself over time as it will reduce your worker's compensations costs, reduce your general insurance cost, improve employee productivity, and increase morale.

Evaluate the various injury prevention programs that are available so you can choose the right one and look at proper implementation procedures. By doing this, you will avoid having the safety program become a drain on the company's limited financial resources, which can easily happen if you aren't careful.

What is the fee for compliance inspections? If you have an inspection and you fail it, you aren't going to be in business for long and you are going to have a hefty fine and many changes to make if you want to remain in business. Safety is something that must be a part of the overall company structure. This means everyone at the company must agree with it and must do it. The safety program is not something that should be thought about and never done, it is something that must be done daily.

To get employees involved, have managers and others that can do training seminars and teach the basics on how to use the equipment and how to avoid common injuries that happen through improper ergonomics and other things. Workplace injuries are something that you can easily avoid if you are being smart. By giving managers specific roles in the safety program, you will be able to improve their ability to follow through with it and to get everyone involved. Managers will compete with other departments to improve their numbers and this gives the employees a sense of ownership with the program.

Behavior-based safety programs are great as they can help you with the mindset change that your employees need to make. Injuries will happen even if employees are doing everything right, sometimes equipment just fails or a fluke occurs. However no one comes into work thinking "I want to get injured." By using behavior-based safety to help with the workplace accidents you will be able to improve the way people work. This means employees will take an extra second or two to think before they go to work on a big job or they will remember something that you told them about turning a handle and using their legs versus their back to lift. Prevention is the only way you can eliminate workplace accidents from occurring and to make sure everything is running the way that it needs to.

Signage and videos can be used for training but stop to think about them and if you will watch them. If you don't really pay attention to them, do you really think your employees will? One of the best ways to get employees to change the way they work is by changing the way you work. You will be the person to set an example for everyone else and employees will tend to mimic your behavior. When they see you using the equipment in a safe way, they too will follow this example and do it. Practice what you preach and you will find it's a lot easier to overcome the resistance to change.