Employers are required by OSHA to provide a safe workplace. This includes a combination of keeping workers informed and trained, ensuring the workplace is free from serious hazards, complying with standards, adequately warning employees of potential hazards.
The following tips are just a few ways you can be sure you are on the right path to keeping your workers safe.
- Use visual communication like floor and wall signs to alert workers and visitors of hazards. These communication signals will help keep your business in compliance with safety regulations and help protect workers from accidents. From arc flash safety signs to signs reminding workers when to don PPE, it is a critical way to quickly communicate with employees. Signs can either feature OSHA- compliant headings or an ANSI-compliant format and include important messages and symbols. The signs you choose for your facility should be designed with bright, easy-to-read font for better visibility.
- Use floor marking material tape to communicate danger. Floor marking tape is recommended for organization, but it can also be used to noticeably increase safety. Creating separate pedestrian and forklift lanes in heavy-traffic situations decrease the chance of accidents and keep everyone moving around the workplace safely. Floor marking tape can also be used to create buffer zones around sensitive instruments like pipes or storage racks reminds workers to maintain a safe distance.
- Displaying safety processes and posters in break rooms helps remind workers of safety programs. Workers have a lot to think about and it’s easy to let rules fade from memory. Posting safety protocols in high- visibility areas help ingrain these practices in workers’ brains. Repetition is a useful tool when it comes to safety.
- Include safety policies in training and orientation for new employees. Doing so stitches the importance of safety into your company’s culture and instills the need to follow safety protocols at all times.
- Make sure first aid equipment is functional and clearly marked. First aid is essential in responding to workplace accidents and injuries; it’s crucial that supplies are stocked, equipment like eyewash stations, emergency showers, and AEDs are working correctly. It is also important these things are clearly marked with signs or labels so that folks can find them quickly.
This list is in no way the only measures a workplace needs to take, but by following all five tips, you can be sure your employees are working in a safe place.
Additional Resources
- Fire Prevention in the Workplace [OSHA 1910.39]– creativesafetysupply.com
- Safe Forklift Operation: Expert Tips for Parking– blog.creativesafetysupply.com
- Traffic Management in the Warehouse– safetyblognews.com
- Safety Signs in the Workplace– hiplogic.com
- Visual Communication 101– creativesafetypublishing.com
- Pipe Marking in the Warehouse – 5 Tips– warehousepipemarking.com
- 10 Places to Use Safety Signs & Labels in the Industrial Workplace– babelplex.com
- Floor Tapes for Safety– blog.safetytac.com
- The Impact of Floor Tape on Efficiency in the Workplace– floor-marking-tape.com