Safety at work means safety at home
As we slowly come to the end of the summer, we enter the time when the winter visitors return, which increases vehicle activity, along with winter activities such as off-road riding, fishing, hunting, BBQing, etc.
Safety shouldn’t stop at quitting time
There are several reasons why safety training at work should be applied as a standard away from work:
• Paying attention to safety always makes safety a habit and builds a good safety attitude/culture.
• Preventing accidents at home means fewer lost workdays and fewer employees who can’t do their work properly because of off-the-job injuries.
• An off-the-job death or serious injury to an employee or family member is a real tragedy that will affect families, co-workers, and your work team.
What are the top five causes of fatal accidents at home?
This is a question you can ask employees to lead off a training session. According to the Home Safety Council, the answer, in order of frequency, is:
• Falls
• Poisoning (ingesting or inhaling toxic substances)
• Fires
• Suffocation (often involving choking on food)
• Drowning
Interesting facts about the importance of safety that some people do not know
• More than 38,000 people died in car crashes each of the last three years
Distracted driving kills, on average of the past few years, nine people every day
Distracted driving injuries, on average over the past few years, more than 1,000 every day
• More than 250 people died taking selfies while operating a vehicle over the past few years
• 75 % of preventable accidents take place in the home
• Almost 20,000 people head to the emergency room each year due to grill-related injuries
• Approximately one in 25 patients in a health-care facility develops a secondary infection
Make the connection between work safety and home safety
The list of parallels between home hazards and workplace hazards is almost endless: tripping and falling, hazardous substances, electric shock, fire, power tools, falling and flying objects, eye injuries, back injuries, etc. It is extremely important to take the same precautions against these hazards at home as they do at work, including reading labels, wearing personal protective equipment, and removing tripping hazards.