Workplace safety is a necessary aspect of any industry. Let’s find out how it impacts employee well-being and productivity.
In 2022, concerns were deep, as the previous year (2021) had seen a few more fatal injuries than the preceding year, 2020. In 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded just above 5150 fatal injuries in the United States, compared to 4750+ in 2020—an 8.9 percent increase from the previous year.
While accidents happen in workplaces, this was a cause of concern—or was it? Considering that OSHA has managed to bring the 1971’s 10.9 incidents per 100 workers ratio down to 2.7 in the 2020s.
Most recorded fatalities and accidents occur in construction industries due to unforeseeable site hazards. Therefore, to keep everyone safe around you, including yourself, getting online training by enrolling in OSHA 30 Hour Construction at reasonable prices can be the best decision since it will enhance your ability to perform well and identify site hazards correctly in your workplace.
However, regardless of the percentage of accidents, workplace morale takes a huge hit whenever incidents happen. So, how does workplace safety play a role in productivity and well-being? Let’s dive in deeper.
Defining Workplace Safety
Workplace safety is when an employer ensures the safety of their workers from potential occupational hazards and illnesses. This could be done through a series of safety inspections that identify potential threats in the workplace, and then solutions that are put in place to mitigate the risk of these threats, whether that’s signage, flammable cabinets from STOREMASTA, or something else entirely.
Or, an employer can hire experts to do a safety audit and analyze a workplace’s overall safety situation and risk management capabilities. An employer might approach this by doing a few things, such as:
- Placing strict and necessary safety restrictions/regulations in place;
- Necessitating personal protective equipment (PPE) or safety gear of other kinds;
- Holding weekly, monthly, or daily inspections of potentially risky zones in a worksite;
- Ensuring regulatory compliance with the local safety agency such as OSHA;
- Training occupational health and safety to employees.
These are some of the most common practices in potentially hazardous workplaces. OSHA calls these the Big Four industries, which require the most scrutiny out of any other sector.
However, besides ensuring the safety of the employees, an employer must also have an emergency action plan in case of a workplace catastrophe. Besides that, an employer must also ensure various policies covering workplace injuries and hazards.
How Does Workplace Safety Impact Employee Productivity and Well-Being?
Regulating workplace safety through the latest technology, such as Artificial intelligence (AI), has seen vast improvements in workplace safety. So, how does it all boost the productivity and well-being of employees? Here are three main aspects that tell us how:
- High Morale of Employees
The high morale of employees depends on two main aspects; pay and a safe working environment. A company that thoroughly ensures safety compliance can improve employee morale higher in many ways.
For instance, application technology in areas can improve workplace safety, such as using machine learning, automation, and AI to prevent accidents. When this happens, employees are:
- Happier to work longer hours;
- Easier to handle/supervise;
- Focused on important tasks;
- Their high morale gets things done quickly.
These factors will improve morale in many ways and ensure the ability to handle workplace safety compliance much better. Because when employees are focused, things like safety inspections and the usage of personal protective gear are widespread.
Thus, ensuring lesser and lesser accidents while improving the overall workplace morale. Therefore, the high morale of workers and supervisors alone can prevent many accidents in a workplace.
- A Safety Culture
Besides all this, using the right methods to ensure employee safety can also ensure fewer injuries — resulting in higher productivity. For example, protective gloves from unigloves.com (or a similar site) protect against horrific degloving injuries, ensuring employees remain unharmed and can work at full capacity, even with dangerous machinery.
How would you define safety culture? Safety culture is when a company is adamant about complying with the safety regulations of their state/nation—while also guaranteeing employee safety. So, they take various measures to promote a safety culture, such as:
- Providing specific training to workers and supervisors for occupational health and safety;
- Provision and usage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) across the board;
- Data analysis to take preventive measures in potentially risky areas;
- Ensuring regular safety inspections and audits to avoid accidents.
Besides all this, using the right methods to ensure employee safety can also ensure their well-being—resulting in higher productivity.
- Increased Company Loyalty
According to research, by ensuring thorough prevention of workplace injuries, employers could gain around 103 million workdays. In terms of cost, that’s the same as retaining around 400k full-time employees in a workplace.
Now, you can imagine how many employees prefer to work in a safer environment rather than risk their well-being. For instance, around 6000 truck drivers deemed it safer to drive in an unsuitable climate—because of their workplace safety and overall job satisfaction. This tells us two things:
- The care of the employer translates into more workhours
- Safety compliance is easier when employee morale is high
Therefore, a company should implement emergency action plans and ensure predictive analysis to contain accidents. So, when incidents are prevented, employee morale alone can raise company loyalty higher.
Why Workplace Safety Is Important?
Every workplace needs a safety regulation that ensures the safety compliance of their local agencies. However, it’s also important for a few other reasons, such as these:
- Enhance Company Value
A company’s value isn’t just based on its products or services. In fact, it’s also about the ability to deliver projects on time and ensure the safety of their employees and clients. If a company neglects employee safety, their value plummets too.
For instance, more accidents in a workplace mean the employer isn’t professional—or as thorough in safety as they should be. Therefore, when a company tends to these aspects, they stand out as a valued and revered name in the industry.
- Clients Prefer Companies With Low Accident Ratio
Clients needing seamless provision of goods will always prefer companies with low accident ratios. This factor is particularly prevalent in agriculture, maritime and construction industries. Because more accidents mean:
- More delays;
- More costs;
- Unwanted nuisance.
The delay in any sort of project or delivery is one of the biggest turn-offs for any client. Therefore, they prefer companies that take safety regulations and quality control seriously.
- Reduced Costs & Time-Efficiency
For an employer, more accidents also mean having to spend more money. Therefore, when you tend to occupational health and safety, it also ensures a reduction in costs and improves time efficiency on projects.
Conclusion
These are some of the ways that workplace safety can impact the productivity and well-being of employees—as well as its importance in workplaces today. Therefore, ensuring a safety culture doesn’t only improve worker morale but also improves the overall image of a workplace.
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