There are lots of studies being completed to try to determine where worker injury might occur. Student engineers may run workers through repetitive tasks over and over again to see where potential dangers lie so they can write up their proposed solutions. You can’t keep up on every new medical or scientific document that may come out but you can develop some tactics to find the right information. Seek it out, and you may be surprised at how helpful it can be.
Start Local
Those in education ask and answer questions for a living, so this may be your best bet. Try setting up a meeting at the nearest college. If you work in a hazardous environment, speak to the experts. Come prepared with a list of specific concerns, and let the person know your expertise in the matter.
Even if you feel like you’ve already learned everything there is to know from simply being on the job day in and day out, you might be surprised at the insights you can glean from those who have looked at the situation from different angles. Those in the academic world are able to do this while you may not have time because you have so many other responsibilities in your day-to-day life.
They may be able to tell you about new technology advances that come out or statistics that can teach you of the most common threats. Whether you manage construction workers or welders, don’t assume that you have all the information.
Talk to Your Competition
If you have a relationship with your competitors, then exchanging information can be beneficial. Ultimately, worker safety needs to be promoted for everyone, so this is a neutral issue. If you don’t know your competitors, then this could be a good way to develop a mutual respect for one another.
The person you speak with will have different experiences and knowledge, and may have noticed something that you haven’t. You could both provide information that the other one may not have considered which saves both of your companies money in potential claims. Employees can be careless, but the more efforts you make to avoid a potentially life-threatening disaster, the better everyone will be.
The key here is to utilize all your resources so you have a full understanding of what safety means today.
General Trends
For those who work in more conventional office environments, you’ll need to stay on top of what’s happening with American workers. Obesity and back pain is rampant, and they cause everyone’s insurance premiums to rise while increasing the risk you’ll be charged with workers comp. consider raising more awareness throughout the office with a fitness plan or a healthier lunches program.
