While workplace accidents will eventually happen no matter how careful you try to be, many injuries are preventable. Regardless of your industry, safe working environments are often taken for granted, and complacency while taking on routine tasks can be the tipping point that creates hazards even in workplaces with less than normal risk.
However, between a combination of training, proper equipment, easily accessible guidance, a thorough safety policy, and help from an industrial hygiene consultant a majority of workplace accidents can be prevented entirely. With the experience gained from working with businesses of all types across the United States, here are the 5 most common workplace accidents and how to prevent them.
There are many definitions of workplace accidents and incidents, and similarly, there are many events that might be considered a workplace accident. According to the National Association of Safety Professionals, a workplace accident is defined as “a situation, hazard, or event which happens suddenly and leads to serious illness or injury”. In summary, an accident must involve:
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, private industry employers reported 2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2022. Additionally, the National Safety Council reports that an employee is injured on the job every seven seconds in the United States. Workplace accidents may include any type of physical or mental harm caused to employees in the workplace, but they can also include harm to individuals who are not directly employed and the surrounding environment.
Repetitive strain injuries are a common type of accident that occurs with workers who injure their musculoskeletal system from completing repetitive tasks. While many people may associate repetitive strain injuries with office workers who spend long hours sitting down at a desk, these types of injuries can occur in practically all industries. Repetitive strain injuries are also linked with overexertion and tiredness, such as from lifting, bending, pulling, pushing, and kneeling regularly without any breaks. Individuals’ neck, back, arms, hands, and shoulders are the most common parts of the body injured from RPIs.
Repetitive strain injuries and accidents resulting from overexertion and tiredness can certainly be prevented. In many situations, these injuries arise due to poor ergonomic design of an employee's work environment. Creating a more ergonomic workplace along with increasing breaks and diversifying tasks is a great way to reduce and even eliminate these injuries completely.
According to the National Safety Council, 850 workers died in falls, and hundreds of thousands were injured badly enough to require days off of work in 2021. While construction workers are seven times more at risk from a falling injury, this accident can occur in any industry, including laboratories, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and even desk jobs. The NSC, however, proposes that accidents caused by falling are 100% preventable. Consider the following to limit the amount of falling accidents in your workplace:
According to the CDC, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of work-related deaths in the U.S. From 2011-2020, more than 17,000 workers in the U.S. died in a work-related motor vehicle crash. In 2019 alone, work-related crashes cost employers $39 billion. This risk is increased when considering the extra danger posed by machines in general, including, for example, excavators, farming equipment, heavy machinery, stationary machinery, etc.
Accidents caused by vehicles and machines can be prevented by encouraging a strong safety culture, requiring training and proper certification and licenses, and taking steps to mitigate exhaustion and long hours of workers using vehicles and machinery.
Psychological stress occurs due to work-related stress, low role clarity, poor organizational management change, high or low job demand, poor environmental conditions, and remote or isolated work. A report by Atticus found that mental health issues account for 52% of all workplace injury cases and that 1 in 10 workers experience mental health issues related to their jobs.
Mental injuries can be prevented by communicating thoroughly with employees about their needs and integrating targeted changes based on their feedback. Furthermore, certain implementations can be made in order to provide more work clarity, more optimized work routines, provisions for access to nature, and isolation mitigation.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, workers in the U.S. suffer more than 190,000 illnesses and approximately 50,000 deaths annually related to chemical exposures. Toxic material exposure is possible in almost any industry, but it is particularly concentrated in pharmaceutical jobs. These types of accidents also have the potential to cause harm to the surrounding environment.
Toxic material exposure can be prevented by integrating EHS and OHS compliance and by hiring the services of a safety consultant to perform audits on your facility, thereby recommending unbiased feedback. Toxic material can also come in the form of disease and poor hygiene, therefore it is also recommended to hire the professional help of an industrial hygiene consultant.
Steps can always be taken in order to minimize or even fully prevent accidents from occurring in the workplace. Although many of the most common accidents are vastly different in how they are likely to occur, one solution is able to address each one with the same precision and attention to detail. An industrial hygiene consultant can provide an organization with unbiased feedback from an outside perspective. They are a great way to supplement more frequent inspections with broader and more inclusive audits that will help keep your organization’s workplace environment in line with the highest safety standards.
Are you looking for ways to maximize your employees’ safety and optimize your regulatory compliance? Contact the safety consultants at The SP Group to learn more about how we can help your organization today.