How to minimise industrial accidents in workplace

By Bimbola Oyesola

THE International Labour Organisation (ILO) marks the World Day for Occupa­tional Safety and Health at Work on April 28 of every year to promote the pre­vention of occupational accidents and diseases globally. IndustriALL Af­filiates in Nigeria were not left behind as they marked the event.

In many parts of the world, national authori­ties, trade unions, employ­ers’ organisations and safe­ty and health practitioners organise activities to mark the day, to raise awareness and campaign to focus in­ternational attention on emerging trends in the field of occupational safe­ty and health and on the magnitude of work-related injuries, diseases and fa­talities worldwide.

According to IndustriAll African chairperson, Issa Aremu, more people are killed at work than in wars every year. He added that the global body was deter­mined to join forces to put health and safety issues on the front burner of labour and management relations

However, studies have shown that the best way to reduce accidents in the workplace is to be pro­active with prevention. There are many ways to prevent accidents but in implementing these methods, there is need for consistency and commu­nication. Below could be considered as safety sug­gestions in the workplace:

• Communicate your health and safety policy to staff: Every business is required to have one, and if you employ more than five staff, it must be in writing and available for employees to read. This might be by including it in induction packs, staff handbooks or posting it on a notice board.
• Put someone in charge of safety in your company: Discuss the current safety policies with this safety coordinator, and work on a plan to make sure that they are adhered to. Confirm that the person is aware of all the respon­sibilities associated with safety. Express your sup­port to this person and ar­range to meet on a regular basis to discuss concerns about and solutions to fur­ther accident prevention.
• Assess the risks: All businesses are obliged to carry out a health and safety risk assessment. Consider all the potential hazards in your work­place, for example, are employees required to carry heavy items or work from height? Or is there any chance that customers could trip or hurt them­selves on your premises? Keep a written record of your risk assessment and any steps you take to re­duce the chance of acci­dents.
• Deal with any hazards promptly: Slips and falls account for more than a third of all workplace ac­cidents – mainly caused by preventable dangers like slippery floor surfaces, trailing cables and poor lighting. Reducing risk is usually straightforward, so act quickly to mop up spillages, repair broken steps and encourage staff to report maintenance faults straightaway.

5. Invite feedback from staff on safety improve­ments: Create a safer workplace by consulting with staff on risk manage­ment, inviting feedback on safety issues and en­couraging your team to flag up workplace hazards.

• Display safety infor­mation clearly: Make sure you stay within the law by clearly displaying safety signs for staff and custom­ers – for example, direc­tions to emergency exits, warnings about moving industrial vehicles or pro­viding information on the location of first-aid equip­ment.
• Maintain comfort and cleanliness: Aside from providing basics such as clean working toilets, ad­equate lighting and drink­ing water, you must also provide appropriate tools. Try to provide the most er­gonomic layout to reduce the chance of injuries such as repetitive strain injury (RSI). Buying cheap chairs and desks is a false economy if half your em­ployees end up with back problems.
• Provide first-aid sup­plies: The minimum busi­nesses are required to pro­vide is a suitably stocked first-aid box, a person appointed to take charge of first-aid management and information for staff on first-aid arrangements. Ideally, you should arrange emergency first-aid train­ing for the appointed per­son in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and helping someone who is unconscious or bleeding.
• Meet fire safety stan­dards: You are obliged to carry out regular fire safe­ty risk assessments and maintain a fire manage­ment plan that identifies possible hazards. Typical workplace breaches can include blocking fire exits, propping open fire doors and failing to train staff in evacuation procedures.

  Learn from any mis­takes. If someone is in­jured, however slight, take steps to ensure it cannot happen again. The law in­sists you keep a record of all accidents or illnesses that happen to your em­ployees during working hours – this can be a simple record book or a comput­erised log.

• Keep safety procedures updated. Don’t forget to review your policies at least once a year or more often if you are expanding fast. Keep up to date with legislation – remember it’s your job to stay within the law.
• Train all employees on safety management once you have your protocols set up for avoiding injury: Make this training avail­able to all new employees as they are hired and to any existing employees who have not yet completed it or who may have ques­tions.