Regardless of whether you work in an office, a factory or spend your days on a construction site, the workplace has hidden dangers that cause injuries each day. Here are 3 tips for avoiding an injury on the job.
Day-to-day injuries
Repetitive tasks and strain account for the most common injuries in any workplace, with back pain the most frequently reported complaint. Back pain is usually incurred from incorrect lifting, straining or poor posture during ongoing tasks. Back pain is fairly easy to treat if you visit a Medical Cannabis Doctor, however prevention is always better than cure!
To avoid a back injury, ensure you never lift anything too heavy, have your desk and chair at the correct height, and seek assistance when something is too awkward to lift. A light stretch before manual work, and taking regular breaks to shift your posture can also be helpful.
Meanwhile, injuries to other areas of the body like carpel tunnel syndrome, sprains and repetitive strain injury are caused by day-to-day tasks like typing, hammering or stapling. These injuries may result in you eventually needing the support of leading hand specialists to fix them. Where possible, ensure these jobs are shared among staff and take regular breaks to shift position or exercise the affected area.
The little things
Small oversights can lead to major injuries via slips, trips and falls. Avoiding these is about attention to detail in the workplace and ensuring your job site is not cluttered, that surfaces are even, and that spills are adequately cleaned up and signed.
If a surface poses an ongoing hazard due to deterioration or a change in floor types that is likely to lead to tripping, notify management.
Danger zones
Some jobs are more dangerous by nature, like those that take place near machinery that has the potential for staff to be hit by moving objects.
These areas of any workplace should be signed to advise of dangers. Only adequately trained staff should be allowed to operate machinery and workplace health and safety initiatives such as high-visibility vests, and durable gloves (learn more from this resource from Unigloves) need to be used. Staff should also be warned when machinery is in use via flashing lights or audible alarms, and there should be adequate exclusion zones around equipment.
Accidents in the workplace have the potential to cause ongoing hardship for the injured party, possibly affecting them financially, physically and mentally. If you have suffered an injury at work, specialists like The Personal Injury Lawyers may be able to help you get any compensation or medical assistance you may be entitled to.