Tag Archives: workplace injuries

How to Identify and Prevent the Top 10 Causes of Workplace Injuries

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In 2022, the US Bureau of Labor recorded a staggering 2,804,200 non-fatal injuries. These statistics are alarming. Workplace safety is not just a regulatory obligation; it is also a necessity for the well-being of frontline workers and the financial health of businesses. Consider this. The total cost of work injuries in 2021 reached $167 billion dollars, impacting not just individuals but the broader economy. 

Graphic of frontline workers in a warehouse driving a forklift, lifting boxes and standing on a ladder.

While there have been significant advancements in health and safety, we continue to see the same injuries year after year. In fact, according to OSHA, fall protection was cited as the top violation for the 13th consecutive year, signaling an enduring need for targeted intervention. 

The administration compiles and publishes an annual list of the Top 10 Violations to alert businesses to commonly cited standards that lead to worker injuries. Understanding them empowers organizations to address common hazards and mitigate risks preemptively.

As a safety … Read more...

Workplace Accident Rates Still Aren’t Low Enough: What You Can Do To Reduce Fatal and Nonfatal Injuries

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Workplace accident rates across the United States have been in decline for many years as a result of the dedication of health and safety professionals. However, those rates seem to have bottomed out over the last few years, stubbornly refusing to move any lower. This blog looks at those areas that have the highest rates of workplace accidents and what you can do to improve safety in your organization.

Workplace Accident Rates Still Aren't Low Enough: What You Can Do To Reduce Fatal and Nonfatal Injuries

Highlights

The Role of Data and Leading Indicators
The Role of the Frontline Worker
Takeaways: What You Can Do To Reduce Workplace Accidents
How Intelex Can Help

Today’s U.S. workplaces are safer than they’ve ever been. Thanks to the tireless work of safety professionals creating strong safety cultures supported by cutting-edge technology, fatal and nonfatal workplace accidents have declined drastically over the last few decades. In addition, strong enforcement actions from regulatory agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) … Read more...

Protecting Your Most Valuable Asset: Best Practices for Reducing Worker Injuries and Illnesses

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Training is one thing employers can do to protect their most valuable asset – their workers – and ensure these individuals return home every day just as healthy as when they arrived.

When researchers in Ireland set out to document the experiences of workers across a variety of industries who had suffered on-the-job injuries, they ended up with 20 different stories. Their final report included first-person descriptions of what happened before, during, and after their subjects’ individual incidents.

Each is a fascinating case study of not only their personal traumas, but also the overall financial toll the incidents took on themselves and their employers.

One manufacturing plant worker, for instance, was clearing a blockage in a machine when another employee switched it on, causing two large blades to activate. The affected worker, Hugh O’Carroll, lost the tops of his index and middle finger on his left hand as a result.… Read more...

Don’t Let Slips and Falls on Walking Working Surfaces Bring You Down

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Ice and snow, oily surfaces, slick floors, and trip hazards not only can cause slips and falls that injure employees, they can kill employees.

We’ve all taken a fall on ice or a slippery surface. Hopefully, the only thing that got bruised was our ego. That’s not always the case; emergency rooms fill with people suffering from fall injuries that occur on walking and working surfaces when water, oil, ice, and snow make walking surfaces slippery.

Workers are not immune to same-surface slips and falls, and OSHA recognized this fact. That’s why OSHA issued a final rule on Walking-Working Surfaces and Personal Fall Protection Systems. The goal of the rule is to better protect workers in general industry from these hazards by updating and clarifying standards and adding training and inspection requirements.

What’s in the Walking-Working Surfaces Standard?

The rule, which became effective in January 2017, incorporates advances in technology, … Read more...