Why Do Workplace Injuries Occur?
When you go to work, you have a right to expect it to be a safe place. You have a right to expect that every precaution has been taken and every measure put in place to ensure you don’t have an accident or a workplace injury. The problem is, sometimes accidents still happen, and those accidents can have long term issues associated with them, some of which can have a negative impact on the victim’s entire life. This is why there are mining accident injury lawyers dedicated to protecting clients and other specialist lawyers who will be on hand to assist should something go wrong at work. If you need one, it is always best to seek assistance from a lawyer in your industry to ensure they have a good idea of the problems you are facing.
The question that must be asked, though, is why the most common workplace injuries occur? Knowing this will help keep all workplaces safer, so it is crucial knowledge. Read on to find out what some of the main issues are.
Long Working Hours
Workers having to work long shifts or taking on too much overtime when they are already tired is a major cause for concern. Being tired means that mistakes can happen, and those mistakes can be dangerous – even deadly – depending on where you work and what you do. This is a particular problem in physical jobs since when the body is tired, the muscles and joints don’t work as well as they should; picking up something heavy or moving equipment might not be a problem for someone wide awake, but for someone at the end of their shifts this will be much more difficult.
Of course, it’s not just the more physical jobs that require the worker to be entirely alert; any lapse in concentration can be dangerous, whether working in an office at a computer or out on a construction site.
Slips, Trips, and Falls
Some of the most common accidents to happen in the workplace are slips, trips, and falls. These occur when the area has not been risk assessed, and when any dangerous elements such as loose, trailing wires, boxes left on the floor after being unpacked, chairs not being put away correctly, spillages not cleared up quickly (or at all), and so on. Or it could be a case of not using the correct equipment when reaching for something; if the equipment is provided, this will be the worker’s fault, but if it wasn’t offered the employer may be to blame instead.
To combat these issues, a stringent training program must be put in place, which shows employees why it is so important to keep their workplace tidy.
Distractions
It is easy for someone to get distracted and then have an accident – or cause one. Working at the same task for hours at a time can be tedious, and distraction can happen before you know it. Cell phones and talking to others or trying to do too many tasks at once are also big distractions.
Distractions can be combatted by giving employees regular breaks. They can remove themselves from the monotony of their task, get some fresh air, check their phone without having anything else to do at the same time, and enjoy a change of scenery. When they go back to work, they will be much safer and much more focused.
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