Common accidents in the industrial workplace and how to avoid them. One wrong move in your workplace could result in an employee being injured, and your production schedule going off course. These leading accident prevention products could greatly reduce your biggest daily risks in the workplace.
Every industrial business has an ethical and regulatory duty to consistently keep its workforce safe. If you’re thinking you’ve got this covered, there are some sobering statistics that show there is no room for complacency. Especially the fact that every year there are 1.4 million work-related accidents in Britain. In 2018/19, that figure included 147 workers who died.
That’s the crux of this vitally important topic, but accidents don’t just damage individual members of staff either. They cause a drop in productivity or even costly downtime. In fact, work-related accidents lead to 28.2 million lost working days each year and cost an estimated £15 billion!
Many incidents have the potential to cause immeasurable damage to your reputation as an employer and could imply to customers that you don’t take your responsibilities seriously.
All good reasons – if you need them – to regularly review your safety procedures, policies and equipment. It’s not just a way of staying compliant but also a vital business priority. That must include assessing common workplace risks and the accident prevention products that best match your specific layout, type of operations and hazard hot spots.
As fuel for thought, here are three top industrial accident causes, and key safety products to help you guard against them.
1. Crashes And Collisions
The HSE particularly focuses on the way industrial companies control the flow of vehicles on site and the measures used to shield operators and pedestrians from impact. Alongside falls from height, physical harm from vehicles is the leading cause of workplace deaths.
An effective and low-cost way to mitigate the risk of vehicle collisions in and around your building is to fit impact-absorbent materials around pillars and other structures. PolyWRAP Fork Impact skirts for example. They are designed and manufactured to reduce the damage done by both industrial vehicles and pallets. PolyWRAP column protectors – available in different sizes – can be quickly slotted into place, building a protective surface at whatever height works best for your operations.
2. Walking Into Objects
It’s not just forklift truck drivers crashing into hard surfaces that boosts the numbers of vehicle accidents in industry. Pedestrians in and around factories walk into their path.
Staff and visitors also have other slip, trip, chemical and electrical hazards to navigate passed as they move around your site. If you don’t take robust steps, you could contribute to a large number of workplace accidents due to people walking into danger!
Putting up permanent walls and fences can be difficult in an ever-changing industrial environment. Fortunately, you can source versatile pedestrian safety barriers made from polymer, which can be fixed quickly to the floor with a robust steel boot.
The innovative range of accident prevention barriers we sell even includes Pedestrian Sprung Return Gates and Demountable Shoe Plates. Making it an even more logical and responsive way to zone off high-risk areas. It’s the ideal way to keep employees and site visitors away from vehicles and other workplace hazards and can be adjusted to cope with changing hot zones.
3. Other Vehicle-Related Accidents
Vehicle collision and pedestrian encroachment prevention products should head up your H&S must-have list. However, there is something else you can do to reduce the chance of accidents caused by trucks and other vehicles moving around your site. Look up!
A moment of distraction, misjudgement or unfamiliarity with your layout can result in a driver crashing into a doorway, low ceiling or overhanging structure. This puts them – and anyone working nearby – in danger. That’s on top of the likelihood of serious structural damage or vehicles out for repair.
Yet the solution can be surprisingly simple. Height restriction clatter bars. The range we stock can be specified in two lengths, in a complete fix kit, for easy application to diverse structures. The galvanised chain length and wording on the polymer clatter bar can be bespoke to your site.
Saving Lives, And Companies
Over the past five years, almost 50% of fatal workplace accidents were linked to two preventable risks; falling from height and collision with a moving vehicle. Remember too, that even non-fatal accidents can result in life-changing injuries. For some of the businesses involved, a safety oversight also ended their future.
Contact us to discuss your specific safety product shopping list and the best ways to prevent accidents on your site.
