Health And Safety Concerns In The Workplace – What Is Hazard Assessment?
Did you know that accidents and injuries are leading cause of deaths among workers? Are you aware of the importance of hazard assessment in keeping employees safe always?
Regardless of how big or small the company is or what type of business your firm engages in, accidents occurred everyday. With the stiff competition among companies, changing technologies, rising bottlenecks and changes in production pattern, it is inevitable that industrial accidents occur. Companies should remember that lack of safety guidelines and measures often results to accidents. Some companies fail to ponder that no matter how big or small these accidents are, it still affects their productivity and profits.
What is industrial accident and their common causes?
It refers to the injury or accident that occurs at the workplace. These accidents range from minor cuts, burns, partial or total disability to death of victims. Majority of them are caused by careless, recklessness, faulty machinery and equipment and lack of training and guidelines.
If these accidents and injuries are preventable, how can we prevent them? What ways and means should companies impose to minimize or to prevent them from occurring?
These accidents can be prevented by the implementation of hazard assessment program.
What is hazard assessment?
Hazard assessment is the evaluation or analysis done by companies to identify risk, to impose measures and to prevent or to minimize the occurrence of accidents and injuries in the workplace. This task is not that simple because it requires dedication and lots to time to determine the most effective way of proving workers with a safe environment to work in.
It can serve as a benchmark in providing safe working environment for employees, safety compliance and training, facility audits and inspections and hazard and risk controls.
Steps on how to establish an effective hazard assessment:
Make sure to make an inventory and examine all areas of your facility. Identify current work procedures, equipment used and how workers operate these machines. Make sure to take into consideration the workers’ job description, steps, tasks and history of injury. Identify what machines are at risks of breakdown or flaws. Have you identified potential or current risks? What measures should you impose to prevent accidents from occurring?
You should formulate and create specific controls for different areas of your facility, especially those highest risk areas. Your design should be categorized from temporary, interim to long-term solutions.
Form an evaluation team who are in-charge with regular inspection and assessment of the facility. These people should also take charge of the implementation of strategy and they should also make recommendations when needed.
Once measures are implemented and practiced, you should monitor their efficacy and effectiveness. Do not forget to consider the weak areas so you can address them immediately.
Lastly, when developing the hazard assessment scheme for the company, be sure to consider the firm’s core values, current methods and documentation.
By following the guidelines mentioned beforehand, you can develop your own hazard assessment scheme and prevent industrial accidents from happening.
Author Bio: Andre Paul B. Reynolds is a writer who enjoys sharing information about fall protection harness & traffic safety vests as well as other topics.
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Keywords: fall protection harness,traffic safety vests,safety equipment,workplace safety