How Can Workplace Injuries Be Reduced?

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reducing workplace injuries

In the construction industry alone, over 80,000 workers sustain injuries from workplace accidents every year. Despite the heightened efforts to make every work surface a 0 accident area, statistics show that a lot more must be done to completely eliminate workplace accidents.

The Cost of Workplace Accidents

A single workplace accident comes with a heavy financial cost. This includes losses and expenses in terms of production, man-hours, and healthcare. In addition to these financial losses, workplace injuries also result to valuation of human costs.

The first step to eliminating workplace accidents and promoting the safety of workers is understanding the risks and taking steps to prevent them.

Having said that, following are the top 5 tips to help prevent injuries in the workplace:

  • Wear PPE – PPE is among the most essential pieces of equipment designed to protect users from risks. These include safety gear such as gloves, helmet, high visibility clothing, safety footwear, and eye protection, among others. While PPE helps promote a safer work environment, studies reveal that a shocking 98% of workers say they’ve seen other workers in their work area who were not using the proper PPE equipment. Reasons cited include poor fit, discomfort, and lack of accessibility.

Your legal mandate as an employer is to provide a work environment that is safe for your employees. The 1992 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at Work law stipulates that employers should take reasonable steps to make sure that workers use the provided PPE responsibly and properly.

The PPE must be:

  • Stored and maintained properly
    • Assessed properly before being used to make sure it is appropriate for the intended purpose
    • Provided with clear instructions on its safe use
    • Used the right way by workers

Although this has been often neglected, employees must also have sufficient training on the proper use, care, fit, and storage of the provided PPE.

Regulations like ANSI/ISEA 121-2018: American National Standard For Dropped Object Prevention Solutions are starting to be implemented and companies are cracking down on safety measures to enhance risk management and reduce costs due to injury, deaths, and equipment damages.

Creating a Safe Work Environment

Common practices at work may result to workplace injuries. Any potential hazards must be dealt with right away. The HSE reports that 24% of all workplace accidents are due to slips and falls.

These accidents resulted from dangers that are deemed preventable like poor lighting, trailing cables, and slippery floor surfaces. Preventive measures are typically straightforward so there’s no reason not to act promptly: repair broken steps, mop spillages right away, and encourage your staff to report maintenance lapses right away so immediate fixes can be implemented.

Creating a Culture of Safety

Employers are responsible for protecting and informing their workers about all safety and health issues affecting them. It is crucial that safety and health policies are communicated to everyone. These include training sessions, induction packs, and staff handbooks. By promoting a culture of safety, workers learn and understand the value of safety and health at work.

Giving proper training to workers can also reduce the risk of injuries. This is because educated and well-informed workers are less likely to figure in an accident. They are fully aware about the potential hazards they may face.

The employer must also review existing policies on a yearly basis or as often as necessary to make sure that they are always compliant with legislations.

Carrying out Risk Assessment

Prevention, as they say, is always the best cure. The law requires every business to perform health and safety assessments to spot the possible hazards in their respective workplaces. Risk assessment guide businesses in understanding the things they need to do in assessing and controlling workplace risks, as well as in complying with existing health and safety laws.

Risk assessment lowers accident rates by formally evaluating areas at work, identifying existing hazards, then determining the possible injuries or accidents that may happen. For instance, do workers need to work at height or carry heavy loads? A written account of your risk assessment, and every step you take is important to mitigate the risk of accidents.

Using Clear Signage

The law requires posting of clearly marked signage in all areas that pose potential hazards. This is for the information of workers. Even if your small business isn’t mandated to comply, posting these signs can be invaluable in protecting your workers.

As an employer, it is vital that you make sure your employees know and understand what the safety signals and signs mean. They may obtain information through training, bulletin board notices, or word of mouth at work.

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What Are the Top Causes of Work Injuries by Type of Accident?

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Top Causes of Work Injuries

The National Safety Council reports that there are 4.5 M workplace injuries recorded each year. This means a worker is injured – either permanently or temporarily – and his life endangered every 7 seconds. The most common injury causes are coming into contact with equipment and different objects, overexertion, sprains and strains, as well as trips, slips, and falls.

Of all the causes of work injuries, trips, slips, and falls, and strains combined for the biggest lost-time claims, based on statistics. Struck by incidents accounted for the next biggest total.

Following are the leading causes of work injuries according to accident type:

  • Slips, Trips, and Falls – In terms of severity and frequency, this accident category is tops. Although injuries sustained on same level (not at height) were number 1 in terms of frequency, falls from an elevated area contribute to more severe injuries. Most incidences of slips, trips, and falls resulted in injuries to the ankle, knee, or back. Hospitals, restaurants, non-profits, transportation, roofing, and carpentry were included in the industries that were most affected.
    You can prevent injuries from this type of accidents by requiring your workers to wear the right footwear, and walking carefully. Running through work environments is never a good idea. Ensure that the floor surfaces are clear and dry. Don’t allow items like cords or rugs to just lie around the area. Secure them.
    Encourage workers to focus on the walking path. Tell them to refrain from carrying things that may block their view. Getting rid of possible walkway hazards can help avoid injuries that these obstructions may cause.
  • Sprains and Strains – This accident type caused a significant number of injuries that led to lost-time claims. While this type of work accident may not be as severe as other accident categories, it is the most common. A majority of these injuries were sustained from pushing, pulling, and lifting. Over 50% of the injuries happened on the knees, back, and shoulders. These were most frequent in the restaurant industry, as well as the firefighting, residential construction, and healthcare (including home health and hospitals) industries.
    To help keep employees away from injuries in the workplace, integrating safe lifting practices and procedures in the workplace is important.
    Improper lifting and overexertion can inflict damage to discs, tendons, spines, and cartilage. Make sure that your employees get training on the proper way of lifting loads. Provide them with gloves and other necessary support equipment to help them move loads. Train your workers to cooperate with one another to complete bigger and heavier jobs.
  • Burns or Scalds – While injuries caused by burns or scalds were not as common as the previous types of accident, this category resulted to more severe injuries. Most affected body parts were the hands and lower arms. Burns or scalds were most common in auto shops and restaurants. This is due to the fact the workers were more exposed to fire and other hot objects or substances compared to other industries.
    When working with grease and other hot liquids, your workers should wear protective gear like gloves and aprons. In food service work environments, handles for hot pans and pots should be turned inwards to keep them from getting knocked over. Potholders must be available for lifting them.
  • Struck By – The most common incidences of this type of injury are often the result of being struck by flying or falling objects or being struck by a colleague or any other person. The severest injuries of this kind happened when people were hit by motor vehicles. Often, the driver didn’t notice them or the vehicle’s brake or other safety mechanisms did not engage properly.
    Train your workers on the proper use of the machinery. This will help lower the incidence of struck by accidents. Do not allow workers to use the machines improperly, a common example of which is standing on an elevated loading bucket. Workers must be discouraged from standing directly behind or in front of machines while in operation.

Injuries in the workplace can have a significant effect on both your business and workers. The good news is, a lot of common workplace injuries can be prevented by putting safety measures in place, as well as by teaching your employees the best practices in the industry.

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What Are the Most Common Injuries from Falling Tools?

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Injuries from falling objects are one of the most common hazards encountered in construction. They are also one of the easiest to avoid. Falling objects can range from small tools to larger items such as steel beams. Unfortunately, most contractors tend to belittle the dangers caused by falling objects, believing that a small object could not cause serious injury.

Injuries caused by falling objects range from relatively minor ones such as bruises and lacerations to more severe injuries such as concussions, back and neck injuries, and broken bones. At worse, these incidents can result in paralysis, traumatic brain injuries, permanent disabilities, and death.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are about 50,000 “struck by falling object” incidents recorded by OSHA every year. This means that there is approximately one injury from this cause every ten minutes. And there are probably many more incidents that go unreported.

One example of a fatality caused by falling objects involves the death of 58-year-old Gary Anderson in New Jersey. Anderson was delivering plasterboard to the site of a luxury high rise under construction when a tape measure struck him.

The tape measure had slipped from the belt of a worker working 50 stories above Anderson. It bounced off a piece of equipment ten feet above the ground before hitting him and knocking him unconscious. He suffered a cardiac arrest and later expired in a hospital.

While these incidents are fortunately rare, they serve to highlight how potentially dangerous falling objects at construction sites can be. They can also be easily prevented with some simple precautions being taken.

Prevent injuries from falling objects

There is a number of basic measures that workplaces can implement to prevent injuries from falling objects. These include:

Tethers and tool lanyards. These will ensure that tools are securely attached to a worker’s tool belt or harness and prevent them from falling. Workers should always secure their tools while they are at the worksite.

Barricades. These should be set up on the perimeter of exclusion zones to prevent workers from entering. If barricades are not feasible, then overhead protective structures should be used. 

Warning signs should also be placed around these areas. When workers see people wandering near these sites, they should also be instructed to give them verbal warnings.

Grating covers. Even placing a piece of non-slip plywood to cover an open grating can prevent tools from falling through it.

Toeboards. These are installed on guardrails and prevent dropped tools from falling to the level underneath. In addition, if you pile materials beside guardrails that are higher than 3.5-inches, place screening or plywood panels on the guardrails to prevent small debris from falling through them.

Carts with sides. These will help ensure that what is placed on them will not accidentally fall off. If you have to place a load on a cart that extends over its side, make sure to tie it down or otherwise secure it.

In addition, these best practices can be implemented in the workplace to avoid falling object accidents.

When hoisting, make sure that the operator does not swing, lower or lift over someone’s head. If the operator’s view is blocked, a spotter should assist him in avoiding accidents.

Tools and other equipment and materials should be kept away from the edges of elevated surfaces. Materials should always be stacked on a stable, flat surface.

Materials and equipment should be kept at least six feet away from the edge to avoid tipping. These should also be arranged so that they don’t slide or roll in the direction of an opening.

When working at a height where there is strong wind, always tie down or otherwise secure materials and equipment.

When removing something from a secured pile, make sure to re-secure the pile afterward.   

Workers should maintain the cleanliness of their work areas. After a tool is used, it should be put away and not left lying around. Debris and other messes should be promptly cleaned up after work.

Anyone who is at a site where there is a risk of falling objects should wear hard hats and other protective equipment. If there are visitors, they should be accompanied by employees who will escort them and prevent them from entering potentially hazardous areas.

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Why It is Important to Secure Your Tools When Working at Heights

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Many workers – and the contractors who employ them – seem to take for granted the importance of ensuring that tools and equipment are securely fastened when they are working at height. After all, how much damage could a tool do when it falls? But, depending on the height from which it falls, even a small object can be deadly.

For instance, a 220g bolt has an impact force of 49kg (similar to being hit by a washing machine) when dropped 23m. A hammer weighing 2kg can have an impact force of 117kg (equivalent to a baby elephant) when dropped just 6m.

The above computations assume that the object is dropped straight down. But if the object is deflected by something in its path, i.e., a girder or a piece of equipment, it becomes a projectile. This not only means that the impact force may be intensified, but the object can travel much further away.

Such incidents are fortunately rare, which is probably one of the reasons why more importance is not given to the prevention of falling objects. However, close calls happen more often than is perhaps commonly believed. 

According to data from OSHA, there are some 50,000 incidents reported of “struck by falling objects” annually. This breaks down to approximately one event every ten minutes. In addition to these, there are probably many more falling object incidents that are not reported, probably because no one was harmed or any resulting injuries were minor. 

Unfortunately, this lack of awareness means that contractors and workers usually rely more on remedial measures such as debris nets to catch falling objects. But these measures are not foolproof, and it is always better to prevent objects from falling in the first place.

Another common issue cited by most workers as to why they don’t tie off their tools is that they don’t have tethering features. But the truth is that there is a wide range of tool tethering products available that will ensure that tools can be securely attached to workers or structures while still being easy to remove when the tool is needed.

Creating a Dropped Object Prevention Program

The first step in creating a prevention program involves assessing the risks present in the workspace. The questions that need to be answered include:

  • What are the potentially unsafe objects (i.e., tools, debris) that can fall?
  • Who are at risk (workers, delivery personnel, guests)?
  • What areas of the job site are at risk for dropped objects?

Answering these questions will require you to spend time observing at-height work areas so you can identify actual and potential safety hazards. Note that the causes of falling objects can be divided into two categories:

Worker-caused

Falling objects can be caused by worker carelessness, being disorganized or otherwise not following proper housekeeping procedures and colliding and tripping while at the worksite.

Elements

Causes of falling objects include weather conditions on the site, vibrations and corrosion, and other hazardous worksite conditions. 

Once you’re done, you can start developing prevention solutions. These are also divided into categories: 

Administrative controls

Changing worker behavior through training and new procedures. For instance, you can talk to workers about the importance of being organized while on the worksite (i.e., not leaving tools and construction debris lying around, putting tools away after use and ensuring that cords are appropriately routed so that they do not pose a tripping hazard).

Engineering controls

These involve putting procedures in place to prevent dropped objects. They are also divided into three categories:

  • Passive controls that do not require human intervention to work. These include toeboards, safety netting, and handrails.
  • Active controls that require workers actively implement them. These include the use of drop containment devices such as lanyards and pouches, which secure tools and equipment to ensure they don’t fall. 
  • Personal Protective Equipment that is designed to mitigate the impact of dropped objects on workers. These should be used to supplement a prevention plan rather than being the primary way to protect against dropped objects.
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The Physics behind the Real Danger of Falling Tools

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Based on reports by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one person gets injured by a falling object in their workplace every ten minutes. That’s about 50 thousand reported cases every year.

These incidents are most common in workplaces where work at height is done. In work at height areas, the most common objects that fall and cause injuries are handheld tools and material debris.

The range of damage or injury can vary from a slight bump to a crack in the skull. The possible victim’s safety depends on the object’s mass, the height of the fall, and the acceleration due to gravity. These physical elements determine the impact force that can cause damage.

How? The following section will explain.

The Physics of Falling Objects

Although keeping a hard hat on at all times may keep you generally safe from a direct hit, not all falling objects have the same impact force. Thus, you can still incur concussions and contusions in spite of the hard hat. But how exactly can falling objects cause such damage from a certain height?

According to physics, when an object at rest suddenly falls, the force of gravity converts its potential energy to kinetic energy—energy in motion. Gravitational pull causes the object to accelerate and creates force. This force is what generates impact when the object hits or collides with something after falling.

To calculate an object’s impact force when it falls from a certain height, you first need to calculate how much kinetic energy the object had before the point of impact. You can do that using the following equation:

E = mgh

E stands for energy, m for object’s mass, g for acceleration due to gravity (constant is 9.81 m/s-2), and h for the falling height.

To incorporate this equation into solving the average impact force of the falling object, you need to take into account the distance traveled by the object.

The distance traveled does not automatically equate to the falling height. This is because the falling height is the distance of the point of fall from the ground, whereas distance traveled is the distance the object traveled when it hits the ground before stopping completely.

To get the average impact force (in Newtons), you’ll need this equation:

Average impact force = mgh / d

Or

Average impact force = E / d

E or mgh stands for the change in kinetic energy and d is for distance traveled by the falling object.

For this calculation, the height and distance should be in meters, and the weight should be in kilograms.

Now, for example, to calculate the impact force of a 3-kilogram wrench that falls from a 3-meter scaffold and embeds itself 5 cm deep into the ground, you’ll apply the formula as:

Average impact force = mgh / d

Average impact force = (3 kg * 9.81 m/s-2 * 3 m) / 0.05 m

Average impact force = 88.29 / 0.05 m

Average impact force = 1765.8 or 1766 Newtons

This result means that it takes a force of 1766 Newtons for a 3-kilogram wrench to penetrate the ground 5 cm deep after falling from a height of 3 meters. Without head protection, this amount of force is enough to knock someone unconscious and cause a skull fracture. In some studies, it has been proven that a force of 2300 Newtons is enough to crush a skull in one hit.

Preparing for and Preventing Damage from Falling Tools

Once you get how the formula works, you can calculate the impact force of any falling tool or object in your workplace. Knowing the physics behind falling objects can give you the following advantages:

It will provide you with an idea of how dangerous your tools can be when they’re dropped.

Knowing about the impact force of falling tools can help you plan for better safety measures in your workplace. This will help strengthen the workers’ awareness about the potential dangers of falling tools. It will also reinforce your company’s safety policies, particularly your tool tethering policy.

You can involve your workers in demonstrating how each tool can inflict injuries when dropped from heights. That way, they’ll know what can happen if they don’t tether or secure their tools when working at height. It’ll also prove to them that non-compliance should be treated as a grave offense.

It can help you estimate the extent of damage falling tools can cause.

When you know how much force your tools can have when they fall off a height, you’ll be better able to estimate how much damage they can cause. This can help you create mitigation plans for all the equipment and materials used in your work site.

By preparing for the possibilities of falling tools and objects in your workplace, you can better prevent injury and damage. You don’t need to master every physics principle, but having a clear idea of what impact force means can help you provide a safer workplace for everyone.

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