The best way to prevent accidents is to identify the causes of them. OSHA 10 online training is a key tool available to employers seeking to outfit employees with the knowledge they need to identify and address worksite hazards before they translate to a workplace injury. Accidents inevitably happen and it is often hard to predict them or stay cautious all the time. A great deal of our time is part of the work week that we spend in the office or other workplaces, so many accidents could happen right there where we spend from 8 to 12 hours of the day. It might occur that you slip or fall as you lose control or attention after repetitive work or have something else induce the accident based on the type of your workplace.
Some workplaces have more endangering factors in line like working with animals or on a construction place, but offices can be tricky as well. To prevent accidents from happening or at least lower their number, you need to get familiar with their possible causes so that we could adopt awareness of factors that might increase probabilities of having an accident in the workplace. Following are the top 10 major causes of accidents in workplace.
10 Lifting Heavy Objects
Many injuries and accidents in the workplace happen upon lifting heavy objects. Some professions include lifting heavy objects within the job requirements, but to prevent back injuries or even graver accidents caused by lifting, employees need to be able to evaluate their potential and not to over-push themselves when the task is far beyond their ability.
9 Violence
This type of accidents is quite common in some workplaces. Violence in the workplace doesn’t necessarily need to occur between coworkers, as it may happen that employees might get attacked by their former partners, spouses, unsatisfied customers or even by complete strangers. Appropriate action needs to be taken, and having security in the workplace provides more safety and prevent violence from happening.
8 Lack of Training
Accidents also occur in the workplace when there is no adequate proportion of training for staff. This is especially dangerous if the job requires handling weapons, hazardous material, machines or vehicles. To prevent this, all the staff should be well trained and qualified for the jobs they work on.
7 Unsecured furniture
If there are tall objects and unsecured furniture in your workplace, this could be a cause of major accidents. In case there is a bookshelf or heavy piece of furniture that is not installed with caution and following safety regulations, these pieces of furniture could cause severe accidents during an earthquake for example.
6 Repetitiveness
Repetitive work can often get the employees boring so their attention might wonder off, causing them to fall asleep at the workplace or lose attention. Losing attention and falling asleep while working is a common factor for accident induction and can cause injuries to the distracted employee as well as his coworkers. Self awareness and understanding how important keeping attention is crucial for preventing accidents.
5 Distraction
Distraction can come in many forms. Workers are often distracted by unhealthy level of noise, heckling or actions that does not come within the description of the workplace requirements. All of these factors can cause distraction, further drawing potential factors for accidents in workplace. Keeping attention and avoid unnecessary actions in the workplace is a good way to prevent accidents from happening. That way safety in the workplace is increased and the possibility of having an accident is undeniably reduced to the minimum.
4 Hazardous Materials
Some jobs require handling hazardous or extremely hazardous materials, making the working environment dangerous. Hazardous materials can cause blindness, skin infections, diseases affecting respiratory tract and burns due to explosions. To prevent accidents from happening, all workers must respect the protocol for handling hazardous material and chemicals and wear protective gloves, protect their body and skin with appropriate clothing, their eyes and faces with mandatory protective glasses or eyewear.
3 Slipping
Although slipping might sound not that dangerous, sometimes even amusing or funny when it is a light slip, this type of accidents is common in workplaces and can cause serious injuries. Dangerous factors that cause such accidents are inconvenient footwear, types of surfaces and waxed floors, along with spilt liquids in break rooms and kitchens.
2 Anxiety and Stress
If you are caught up in a loop of constant worry about things happened during work, problems at home, or with your health, family or general finances, you can easily reach the state of stress and anxiety. Being under stress can cause you to lose attention, disable you from being in control. This could cause accidents at workplace and jeopardize your and your coworkers security.
1 Feeling Fatigued
When your limits of being productive pushes over your potential, you begin to feel tired and fatigue. With the sense of fatigue, your motor abilities and physical as well as psychological preparedness become pale and not enough constructive to continue to work as they normally do. In such occasions, you lose control; you might fall asleep in a vehicle or fail in properly operating dangerous machinery that requires caution in dealing with, immediately inducing an accident.