What You Need to Know About the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Download Instructor-Led Material Meeting Kit PowerPoint Safety Talk WHAT'S AT STAKE? According to the WHO, coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that range from the common cold to much more serious diseases. These diseases can infect both humans and animals. The strain that began spreading in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province, is related to two other coronaviruses that have caused major outbreaks in recent years: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). WHAT'S THE DANGER? Symptoms of a coronavirus infection range in severity from respiratory problems to cases of pneumonia, kidney failure and [...]
Close Calls are Wake-Up Calls
Hand Out PowerPoint Quiz Safety Talk What’s at Stake? Consider this scenario… nobody was injured and there was no property damage involving an incident in the workplace. Why should this kind of “incident” be relevant? Call these incidents in question close calls or near misses. What's the Danger? Why talk about incidents that didn't happen? The following example might make it a little easier to understand by bringing a close call incident a little closer to home. Example Your neighbor's son runs into your house in a panic because he has just come within a few inches of running over [...]
A Messy Workplace is Never Safe
Download Instructor-Led Material Hand Out PowerPoint Quiz Safety Talk What’s at Stake? What does housekeeping have to do with safety? Lots! A clean and orderly workplace is essential to avoid falls, fires and many other kinds of accidents and injuries. What’s the Danger? Whether it's an office, warehouse, workshop or construction site, there are serious reasons for not trying to function in a messy work environment. Here are some examples: Injury or death resulting from a trip or fall. Injury or death after being struck by an out-of-place object. Injury or death in a fire caused by improper storage or [...]
Sexual Harassment: Understanding Unwelcome and Unwanted Behavior
Download Instructor-Led Material Hand Out PowerPoint Quiz Safety Talk What’s at Stake? It is not uncommon to hear employees say things like this, “We can’t even give someone a compliment around here without being accused of sexual harassment.” Or, “I was just joking, she’s way too sensitive. There’s no way that was harassment.” No doubt you have several other phrases you could add to the list. But it’s not that hard to understand what is and what is not considered sexual harassment when you look at in terms of a behavior being unwelcome and unwanted. What You Should Know Supervisors [...]
Checklist: Emotional Wellness Checklist
Emotional wellness is the ability to successfully handle life’s stresses and adapt to change and difficult times. Here are tips for improving emotional health:
Showing How Safety Can Actually Make Money
Companies have historically regarded safety expenditures as a necessary evil rather than a profitable investment. In modern times, companies have begun to wise up and understand that spending money on safety is "good for business." But even among the enlightened, the perception persists that safety doesn't actually make money; it just helps prevent losing it. In fact, most safety directors concede the truth of this argument and focus all of their attention on the loss side when advocating safety. The safety-is-good-for-business-because-it-prevents-losses formula is fine as far as it goes. But, while preventing losses is powerful stuff, making money is even [...]
Fatality File: Domestic Violence in the Workplace
On March 29th, 2009, Robert Stewart murdered 7 elderly residents and 1 nurse in the Carthage, NC retirement home where his wife was working. He reportedly shot out her car windows before starting the rampage inside the facility. At the time, she did not know that it was him as she reportedly hid in a bathroom. Raina Johnson allegedly made threatening calls to her ex-girlfriend’s workplace when they broke up in early September 2007. Despite court orders for Johnson to stay away from her ex-partner after an earlier assault, she shot the victim outside a Safeway Supermarket in Washington, D.C. [...]
Picture This: Racking and Stacking
Warehouse racks and material stacks are nothing to take lightly. A damaged rack can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost and damaged inventory. Then there are the injuries and fatalities caused if the racks and materials fall. Your co-workers, delivery drivers, and even customers can be injured and killed if a rack or material falls. You certainly don’t want to be the one who causes any of these unfortunate outcomes or the supervisor in charge when an incident occurs. Share these guidelines with your warehouse teams, including managers, and ensure they know how to spot racking [...]
Picture this: You Make the Call
Pretend you’re the supervisor who instructed this chap to do this work. First, discuss what could have been done in advance to make this scene safer. Second, discuss what your reaction would be if you pulled up to this scene and saw how the work was being performed. Image Source: Reddit What could have been done in advance? Conduct a hazard assessment to determine hazards – present and anticipated – and control measures that must be in place before work begins. PPE needed – safety glasses, hearing protection, possibly a faces shield. What else? Traffic control. Possible solution to ergonomic [...]
