A safety-minded culture is essential for business owners in New Jersey as anywhere else in the U.S. Workplace injuries are still all too common. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that more than 2,000 workers incur eye injuries every day. With these injuries come increased workers’ compensation costs, higher medical expenses and higher turnover rates. Employee morale will plummet as will productivity.
To avoid this situation and improve employer branding at the same time, it would be good to consider the following five safety tips. Employers, site managers and safety coaches alike can take advantage of these suggestions. The first tip is that the individuals in leadership positions must initiate the changes. Creating a safety culture begins from the top down.
To gauge what employees know about both federal and corporate policies and to learn how they regard their own duties or others’ expectations of them, employers can conduct an anonymous survey. To get workers to speak up about safety hazards, supervisors can hold a pre-shift huddle. It should be emphasized that huddles be a nonpunitive forum, and the same holds true for any one-on-one discussions. In these informal talks, employers can focus on gaining employees’ trust. Lastly, employers should provide ongoing training about risk identification and prevention.
There is, of course, no way to prevent all workplace injuries. The first thing that victims will want to do is see if they qualify for workers’ compensation. These benefits could cover medical expenses, income lost during the physical recovery and even future lost wages if the injury has long-term effects. To ensure that they receive a fair amount, victims can retain a lawyer. Attorneys can hire investigators and medical experts to prove that the accident took place at work and the injuries are the direct result of that accident.