How to Help to Prevent Workplace Injuries

Among the most common things that can affect productivity in the workplace are injuries. Injuries put employees out of the office while they recover, keeping them from helping the company run smoothly. Sometimes people are even seriously injured as a result of carelessness. With a little caution and a lot of teamwork, however, it is very easy to help prevent injuries in the workplace.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Help co-workers reach boxes or other items that are too high for them to grab without a step stool.
2. Avoid standing on a chair to get items from ledges or higher bookshelves. Doing so can result in a nasty fall, especially on a chair that swivels.
3. Keep a ladder or a step stool handy whenever you need to gain access to higher filing cabinets or other storage containers.
4. Lift heavy boxes with your legs and not with your back. Lifting heavy objects with your back increases the risk of pulling a muscle, as well as giving yourself a hernia. Always bend to pick up boxes and straighten up as you raise the box off the ground.
5. Invest in a comfortable, ergonomic chair for your desk. Poor posture at your computer can lead to a variety of injuries, like a strained back or neck or even an unnatural curvature of the spine.
6. Prevent carpal tunnel syndrome by using an ergonomic keyboard, a wrist rest and even an ergonomic mouse pad. These items help to raise and support you wrist which can prevent long-term damage as a result of continued use.
7. Open boxes carefully when using a razor blade. Be sure to retract the blade once you have finished opening the box.
8. Avoid overloading a hand truck beyond the top of its supporting beam. Doing so dramatically increases the risk of having boxes fall or slide off the hand truck to either side.

Tips & Warnings

• Watch any instructional videos at your place of business provides regarding occupational safety. Also, be sure to take a tour of the building to learn where the emergency exits are located.
• Do not commit insurance fraud in order to gain worker's compensation. Each state in the United States is cracking down on those who abuse the law for their own gains, with penalties starting at five years imprisonment in many states.