Negosentro.com | 7 Types of Safety Gear to Ensure Your Employees’ Safety | Employee safety in the workplace is essential for any business, regardless of size or industry. Without having key workplace safety components in place, a company’s employees, revenues, and brand reputation are in danger. It is just as important to teaching employees how to cultivate a safe work environment to decrease on-the-job accidents, injuries, and fatalities.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reported that 5,147 employees were killed on the job in 2017, down from 5,190 in 2016. OSHA partners with businesses nationwide to establish practices that continue to identify workplace dangers while decreasing workplace accidents.
Having a proactive approach to workplace safety allows a company to create initiatives that inform and engage its employees about both short and long term effects of on-the-job dangers and how to address them. Proper safety gear is a vital component of this overall mission.
- Protect Your Head
Image via Flickr by NAVFAC
A sturdy helmet, properly adapted to the employee’s specific working condition, offers protection, and helps prevent head injuries. Increased awareness of the importance of helmets has resulted in various designs, featuring options such as comfortable sweatbands and adjustable interior harnesses.
- Protect Your Eyes
Daily, more than 2,000 employees injure their eyes while on the job. Experts agree that 90% of these injuries could have been prevented with proper eye protection such as safety glasses or welding goggles.
- Protect Your Hearing
Hearing protection is critical, especially for work environments that have high sound levels. While earplugs are comfortable, however earmuffs may be more convenient as they can be easily and quickly be taken on or off on the work floor as needed.
- Protect Your Respiratory System
Face masks are a must when coming in contact with hazardous materials to help prevent the inhalation of smoke, dust, vapors, and powder while working. Anti dust face masks protect against dust and dangerous particles while full-face masks should be used for more toxic materials.
- Protect Your Hands
The right gloves help protect hands and fingers from injury. Depending on the type of work your employees are doing gloves can offer protection again vibrations, cuts from sharp materials, heat and cold, bacteriological risks, and splashes from diluted chemicals.
- Protect Your Feet
Protective safety shoes and boots are essential in maintaining safe and healthy feet. In addition to protecting your feet, steel toe boots and shoes help prevent injuries and reduce the severity of an injury that may occur. Specialty boots and shoes are also available for slippery surfaces, such as ice and snow. Specialized socks can also assist in providing additional support for feet.
- Protect the Rest of Your Body
Crowded work areas create ideal conditions for workplace accidents. High-visibility clothing such as jackets and pants made with durable fabric increases visibility and helps prevent avoidable accidents.
Prioritizing workplace safety for your employees holds many benefits, including a safe and productive work environment, decreased employee absenteeism and insurance claims, and an increase in employee satisfaction. Making sure your employees have the proper safety gear is a simple and easy way to demonstrate that their health and safety is a top priority of the company.
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