Health & Safety is a waste of money! Am I right? WRONG! Prevention is better than a cure and truer words have not been said. With every incident or accident there are direct and indirect costs that spins off of that misfortune. Direct costs would include worker’s compensation, medical costs, legal fees, insurance etc. While indirect costs include loss of…
What’s one of the best ways to check the safety culture within your organisation? SAFETY OBSERVATION CARDS……It is of utmost importance to check in on the safety culture within your organisation. It gives a sense of where the company is as it relates to hazard identification, understanding of dangerous situations and of course overall SAFETY AWARENESS for the betterment of…
Welcome October….Least we forget that we are still doing our best to remain healthy throughout the pandemic. People are fighting for their lives everyday. And even though these tips were published a year ago, it is still very much relevant today. Remember to be responsible, wear your masks, wash your hands regularly/sanitise and practice physical distancing. Remember there are asymptomatic…
Let’s talk PPE! Personal Protective Equipment commonly known as PPE is the last line of defence on the Hierarchy of Controls. Why? Because while PPE may reduce the impact of a hazard, it doesn’t stop it from happening all together. So for example, I wear my hard hat on a construction worksite and I walk under a scaffold that has…
Whew! It’s been a while hasn’t it? But it’s a good thing. We have been super busy and committed to the projects that we have been involved in. Happy to be back, to assist and to inspire. A recurring observation from being present on worksites is that following the safety regulations, laws and best practices is apparently always someone else’s…
Researchers have found that the level of distraction via cellphone is equal to that of a blood alcohol level of 0.08. They have also concluded that the distraction of a cellphone while driving is way worse than conversing with a passenger. Cellphones tend to distract us while driving, operating machinery, utilising equipment, crossing a street and even distracts us from…
According to ‘mental health UK’ stress may be defined as the degree to which you feel overwhelmed or unable to cope as a result of pressures that are unmanageable. Stress may develop from a series of occurrences in our lives and may derive from work, home life, relationships etc. In the workplace stress my cause us to become distracted and…
1. Identify the hazards Try to identify anything that could possibly cause harm. Conduct a walkthrough of your facility to ensure nothing is missed. You can also form a team with individuals from different backgrounds/departments for extra eyes to identify hazards. 2. Identify who may be harmed and how Many businesses have staff from different departments, customers that visit the…
Risk assessments are a necessary part of an efficient occupational health and safety management plan. It is needed for several reasons: 1. It creates an awareness for hazards and risk 2. It identifies who may be harmed in anyway by the hazards 3. You are able to determine if a control method is needed 4. Evaluate if your current mitigation…
Complacency can be defined as self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies (merriam-webster dictionary)In health and safety, complacency generally occurs with workers who have been operating in a specific role for a long time and have become laxed about their duties.What to do about complacency? 1. Analyse your job tasks and the way you do them,…