What are the 5 basic workplace hazards?
What are the 5 basic workplace hazards?
Going to work every day means learning new things, working through challenging assignments, and bringing home a steady paycheck. One aspect of working that we don’t think about all that often is common workplace hazards. Being aware of these 5 basic workplace hazards will keep staff up-to-date on their safety training competence, and keep everyone as safe as possible in the workplace.
5 Basic Workplace Hazards
Common injuries in the workplace stem from falling, exposure, incorrect lifting, and sitting or performing repetitive motions for too long at a time. It’s crucial that all employees know where to access emergency items like fire extinguishers and first-aid kits too.
- Incorrect Ergonomics
- Heavy Lifting
- Clutter (Falling and Tripping)
- Fire Hazard; and
- Chemical Exposure
A workplace injury can usually be avoided. Employers and workers alike, are more aware than ever about the importance of taking a break from repetitive motions that lead to short or long-term muscle and joint injury. Further, there’s also better personal protective equipment available, and lots of online training for workplace injury prevention.
Statistics report that a worker becomes injured every 7 seconds and that a quarter of accidents involve coming into contact with equipment or other objects. Trips and falls also account for a quarter of on-the-job injuries. Industries like public service, shipping, maintenance, manufacturing, and construction trades all pose considerable exposure to injury. The way employers and workers handle this exposure-risk is the difference between avoiding workplace hazards and becoming a victim to them.
Preventing workplace hazards just takes a little awareness, an extra moment of time-well-spent to ensure that merchandise is in its proper place, workers having correct protection on that allows them to perform their jobs safely, and that everyone is aware of correct body positioning techniques. Employee safety training and awareness considerably minimizes expense and employee downtime.