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Stay Safe at Your Workplace: National Safety Day

Did your Facebook page just pop up an ad on safety? Are your eyes often crossing safety posters? Don’t wonder why, as it’s the 48th National Safety Day on the 4th of March to enhance safety awareness among people and make them avail safety, health and environment (SHE) related support. Started in 1966, Safety Day is to ensure safety and health at work and in general lifestyle and the day gradually turned into a safety week. This is to reduce industrial accidents or workplace hazard. On a broader note, the object on this day/week is

  • Incorporate safety and health practices in the work culture
  • Better commitment from employees on safety at the workplace
  • Increase integration of Occupational Safety & Health (OSH) activities

Undoubtedly, different industries or organizations have varied safety criteria but some norms stay constant. Let’s begin with industrial/workplace safety where Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is of major importance

PPE includes protection for the following

Eyes: Eyes being a too sensitive organ of a human body that needs protection against dust, gas, radiation, splash, molten substance, etc. Welding, glass molding/melting, chemical industries do need eye protection. The various kinds of eyewear to keep you safe from vision-threatening dangers such as anti-fog, anti-scratch, hard coated glasses etc.

Head: Head protective equipment is a must for workers in the construction company, coal mines, heavy-metal industries, fire fighting and so on. It saves your head from sudden fall of concrete, chemicals or metal objects. Helmets come in different size, color and type. For optimum protection, these hard hats should be of appropriate fit and renewed at regular intervals.

Ears: Jobs that involve operating machines producing huge noise need a worker to put on hearing protection. High-level of sound can cause serious damage to ears and brain. So, an employee should make use of ear plugs, ear muffs and more.

Hands: Majorly, everything needs to be operated with hands in any industries be it dealing with chemicals, construction with cement, cutting sharp object and so on. So, one must wear gloves to protect hands and arms against chemicals, shocks, water, radiation, cuts and more. Different kinds of gloves include latex, knitted, rubber, disposable, cotton gloves, etc.

Foot: Like hands, there is a need for foot protection from chemicals, falling objects, sharp objects, slipping etc. There are different kinds of safety shoes depending on the industry, such as steel toe, slip resistant, composite toe, gumboots, and more. Even the sole and upper material can be selected according to the job. In any shoe type, it is necessary to have a good fit for good protection.

Lungs: Harmful fumes from chemicals, or gases and vapours in the industry can damage lungs of workers. This calls for the use of respiratory masks at work that filters the contaminated air. The mask should be selected basis the types of work required at the industry. But it is necessary to change the masks at regular intervals as the filters have a limited life after which it stops filtering air. Breathing apparatus should be present in the areas with oxygen deficiency.

For PPE selection, it is necessary to consider the environment of the industry, how long and how much a worker is exposed to such an environment for health and safety reasons.

Other safety tips to follow at workplace for health and environment safety are as follows

  • Know the potential hazards of your workplace. Be prepared for any fire accidents with fire extinguishers in place and emergency exist in good condition.
  • Regularly check for machines’ proper functioning that can reduce the harmful fumes creation and other accidents caused due to its malfunctioning
  • Continuous working can also cause fatigue and tiredness, so it is important to have regular breaks at work. This increases efficiency of workers.
  • Another thing to consider for health is to take care of the posture. To avoid any sort of back problem one should keep his posture correct.
  • Always keep fully equipped first aid kits at working stations. One should always be prepared before-hand as emergencies come unannounced.
  • Train the staff regularly on use of safety equipment and other safety measures to avid industrial accidents that can lead to
    a huge loss of life and money.

To wrap up, emotional quotient is another vital thought in the workplace not only it is linked to high job satisfaction but is also associated with better job performance. Hence it motivates people to work with more efficiency keeping in mind the safety of their other work fellows.

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