From Spring 2022 of Connected.
From its roots in seeking to reduce workplace fatalities to taking quick action to protect worker health in a pandemic, workplace safety is constantly evolving to face new challenges.
The Industrial Revolution brought growth in the United States with an increase in production of goods and services. Working conditions were harsh, dangerous and without regulation. As a result, many men, women and children were left permanently disabled or lost their lives to workplace accidents.
By the late 1960s, disabling injuries increased 20 percent during the decade, and 14,000 workers were dying on the job each year, according to OSHA. New Jersey Senator Harrison A. Williams Jr. Called attention to the need to protect workers against such hazards as noise, cotton dust and asbestos by pushing for legislation to address workplace safety.
The need to protect the American workforce came front and center on December 29, 1970, when President Richard M. Nixon signed The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, to “assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women.”
Workplace safety has evolved over the decades. Its roots were basic and sought to reduce workplace fatalities and grew to include OSHA standards for asbestos, lead and cotton dust in the 70s, chemical exposure in the 80s, protection from bloodborne pathogens and confined working space in the 90s, protections for construction workers in steel erection in the 00s, response and cleanup protection in the 10s and quick action to protect worker health in the face of a pandemic today.
Along the way, OSHA has created a wealth of programs, training and certifications to help keep workers safe.
Workplace safety is about a lot more than hard hats. “Workplace safety requires more than just personal protective equipment,” said Gary Hulbert, CSP, CHMM - INSafe Health Consultant. “Company leadership must have a commitment to developing and implementing an effective safety and-health-management culture and system as well as providing resources to ensure that goals are reasonable and can be met.” The family-driven culture at Kirby Risk keeps safety top of mind with company leadership. It's written into our company values and principles: “Safety—We will maintain safe and healthy working environments.”
COVID-19 presented a whole new challenge to workplace safety. Employee health came to the forefront. “Typically, when a new hazard is introduced into a workplace, a company will have the ability to prepare and develop measures to protect workers,” Hulbert said. “In this case, very few employers were prepared and had to learn about the hazard itself as well as conduct research to develop and implement strategies to address it.” Kirby Risk's leadership team worked hard to build strategies to stay a step ahead, including the development of a Safe Workplace Plan that outlined guidance for keeping both employees and customers safe. The team met often to review the changing CDC guidelines and make updates to the plan that would continue to meet the safety needs of our employees and customers.
As part of the Safe Workplace Plan, all employees received PPE and sanitation efforts were ramped up. But, the largest change to safety protocol came in the form of communication. “With business processes changing to meet safety guidelines, more frequent communications were needed across varying marketing channels to reach both employees and customers effectively,” said Tammy Spencer, Marketing Communications Manager at Kirby Risk. “Our President and COO, John Eggleton, recorded weekly video updates that were distributed internally to help answer questions and keep our employees up to date on the changing business environment.”
“Employees will feel more comfortable coming to management with safety concerns if they see them addressed quickly rather than letting the hazards languish for weeks.”
Employee mental health doesn't sound like it should be a safety measure, but COVID-19 highlighted the ways a pandemic can affect employees mental wellbeing, according to Columbia Southern University's Occupational Safety and Health Trends for 2022 . “Safety experts and employers have taken note of burnout or stress affecting their employees,” Hulbert said. “While there are few OSHA standards that would address mental health, identifying occupational fatigue and addressing job complacency are good ways to prevent accidental injury.” KR Connect, the Kirby Risk employee intranet site, has pages dedicated to linking employees to health and community resources, along with information about our Employee Assistance Program.
Technology has made it easier than ever to communicate safety updates, policies and guidelines to employees and customers. It has also made documenting hazards a streamlined process.
Some companies are adopting safety checklist and audit software that allow them to photograph and identify hazards and immediately generate work orders to address them, according to Hulbert. Larger companies can track these work orders electronically to ensure they are complete, and then photographically document the fixes. “Maintaining such a quick flow of information and effectively documenting outcomes not only provide a safer workplace, but it increases awareness in employees and management,” he said. “Employees will feel more comfortable coming to management with safety concerns if they see them addressed quickly rather than letting the hazards languish for weeks.”
PPE may not be fashionable or comfortable, but it protects and saves lives. Safety checklists and some requirements may seem like a waste of time or require extra steps, but they limit workplace hazards. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, OSHA and other safety agencies have caused the incidence rate of nonfatal injuries and illnesses among private industry workplaces to fall from 10.9 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers in 1972 to 2.8 in 2018. Workplace safety will continue to evolve with time and with evolution, a further decrease in the incident rates of nonfatal injuries and illness.
FROM AN OFFICE CHAIR TO THE PLANT FLOOR, CHECK OUT THESE COMMONLY SHARED WORKPLACE HAZARDS
Some companies may have multiple or different workplace environments. Employees might work in an office, in a warehouse, on a plant floor, in a machine shop and more. Each environment may have some unique hazards, but there are some that are shared and could be hiding in plain sight.
- Chemical Hazards: Something as simple as common cleaners could be reactive with one another or flammable if stored improperly or in bulk.
- Electrical Hazards: Ungrounded cords, frayed wires, overloaded power strips and extension cords being used as permanent wiring can be common culprits in office and industrial settings.
- Slips, Trips and Falls: Uneven floors, wet entryways and storing items on the ground are all very common ways employees suffer fall-related injuries, and these can happen anywhere.
From the Indiana Department of Labor. The INSafe division of the Indiana Department of Labor offers free safety and health consultation and educational services to Hoosier employers. They conduct onsite consultations, program reviews, industrial hygiene sampling, training and education at no cost and with no fear of citations or penalties. For more information, visit https://www.in.gov/dol/safety-and-health-consultation/insafe-home/.