Workplace Safety

There are currently around a million American workers that have suffered some degree of slight loss due to an eye injury. In fact, it’s estimated that there are some 700,000 workers injuring their eyes at work every year in America.

Such injuries can be financial nightmares for employers. While the above statistics may seem discouraging, 90% of eye injuries in the workplace can actually be avoided by the employee wearing the appropriate safety eyewear for the job. The following 10 actions can help you prevent workplace eye injuries:

1. Assess the situation – study your eye-related incident and accident reports. Is there any area with a history of problems? Carefully assess day-to-day operations at your business. Do work areas, equipment, access routes, or operations pose any hazards to the eyes?
2. Have the appropriate eyewear available – make sure that the protective eyewear you select is designed for the specific hazard/duty and is in compliance with current OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act) standards.
3. All participate, zero tolerance – initiate a mandatory eye protection program for all operation area employees. Such a broad program is easier to enforce than one requiring eye protection in certain areas, but not others. Clearly define and enforce the disciplinary actions for infractions.
4. Eyewear doesn’t protect if it doesn’t fit – eyewear should comfortably fit a worker’s face and never be borrowed or shared between workers. Only a trained eye care expert should fit and repair eyewear. Make it clear that workers are responsible for keeping up with their eyewear.
5. Routinely test vision – if an employee can’t see correctly, then they’re likely to eventually have an accident. Uncorrected vision problems can be avoided by making vision testing a component of employee physicals.
6. Plan for accidents – plan ahead for potential emergencies by having eye injury first-aid procedures in place; training workers in first-aid and identifying any employees with advanced medical training; and having easily accessible eyewash stations, especially in chemical areas.
7. Continue educating your employees – education is key to preventing accidents. Include eye safety and protective eyewear in new employee orientations. Continue the education in safety meetings, educational programs, and training programs.
8. Positive reinforcement – make sure that management and supervisors are following the same rules.
9. Put your safety policy in writing – make sure that you’ve distributed a copy of your safety policy to your employees and had them sign and date it. This should be routine during new employee orientation. Additionally, a copy of the policy should be displayed in a common area, such as a memo board or break room.
10. Reassess your policies – your ideal goal is zero eye-related accidents and injuries. Periodically review your accident prevention policy to see how well it’s meeting your goal and make any necessary changes.

Workplace safety should be a top priority every day. Employees rely on themselves, their co-workers, and management to avoid hazards at the workplace, and it is of utmost importance to develop excellent work habits that emphasize the prevention of injury and illness. In fact, developing everyday safety habits, and living by them, can keep all workers injury free throughout the year.

Below are some guidelines to help promote safety and well-being on the job:

• Stick to Your Own High Standards. Don’t be influenced by others around you who are negative. If you make the decision to forgo safety glasses because co-workers don’t wear them, remember the blindness you may suffer will be yours alone to live with.
• Only Operate Equipment If Qualified. Your supervisor may not be aware that you have never done the job before. It is your responsibility to help your supervisor understand your skill level, so the necessary training can be provided.
• Maintain a Healthy Respect for Machinery. If you put something in a machine’s way, it will crush it, pinch it or cut it. Make sure all guards are in place. Never hurry beyond your ability to think and act safely. Remember to de-energize the power first before placing your hands in a point of operation.
• Use Your Own Judgment to Initiate Safety Procedures. You are in the best position to see problems before they arise. Don’t be afraid to ask for the personal protective equipment or additional guidance you need.
• If Unsure, Ask Questions. If you are uncertain about something, ask. Do not accept answers that contain, “I think, I assume, I guess.” Be certain.
• Exercise Care and Caution When Lifting. Most muscular and spinal injuries are caused by overstrain. Know your limits, and do not attempt to exceed them. The few minutes it takes to get help will prevent weeks of being out of work and in pain.
• Keep a Tidy Workplace, and Practice Good Housekeeping. Disorganized work areas are the breeding grounds for accidents. You may not be the only victim. Don’t be a cause.
• Dress Sensibly and Responsibly for the Job at Hand. Wear sturdy and appropriate footwear. These should enclose the foot fully. Avoid loose clothing, dangling jewelry, and be sure that long hair is tied back and cannot become entangled in the machinery.
• Practice Good Hygiene and Cleanliness. Avoid touching eyes, face, and mouth with gloves or hands that are dirty. Wash well and use barrier creams when necessary. Most industrial rashes are the result of poor hygiene practices.
• Play an Active Role in Being a Positive Safety Team Member. Willingly accept and follow safety rules. Encourage others to do so. Your attitude can play a major role in the prevention of accidents and injuries.

To most workers, a simple hand tool wouldn’t be considered a huge safety risk. However, hand tools that are used, transported, or kept in poor working order can be a danger to workers and bystanders.

One of the most often seen dangers is when a tool is being used at an overhead level and becomes a falling object. In fact, on construction sites, the third most common cause of injury is falling objects. Furthermore, 10% of all disabling work-related injuries are the result of falling objects.

When working from ladders, balconies, platforms, tanks, roofs, equipment, or other area above a normal working level, workers should ensure that all tools, materials, and equipment are positioned in a manner that will prevent them from rolling, slipping, or dropping to the ground. This is especially true when the tools must be placed on a surface that’s curved or slopping. Do keep in mind that tools can vibrate during certain working conditions and shift from their position. Workers carrying tools to overhead work levels should use a bucket or other sturdy container for transport. A hand line may be used to hoist the bucket or tool up. Remember to ensure that no one is standing underneath the tools as they are being hoisted up.

Here are a few additional safety guidelines that workers should adhere to when using hand tools:

• Keep all tools in good working order – clean, functional, oiled, and sharpened.
• Never use any tool for anything other than what the tool was intended.
• Capacity means capacity; never use cheaters or otherwise force a tool to function beyond its specified capacity.
• Keep chisels, punches, star drills, and any other tools subject to impact properly sharpened to prevent a fragment breaking off and becoming a dangerous flying object.
• Keep cutting tools sharpened and use proper handles.
• Avoid using dull, rounded, chipped, or tapered drill bits.
• When using a screwdriver, don’t use your hand to hold undersized work. Use a vise for security whenever it’s possible.
• Never transport any pointed tool, such as a screw driver, chisel, or drill bit, in clothing pockets. A tool belt should be used to carry such tools.
• Only use the size and weight hammer required for the job. Always ensure that the hammer’s head is ground, handle isn’t loose, and claws aren’t broken before it’s used.
• Only use the size and type of screwdriver the job requires. Never use a screwdriver with a badly worn head or damaged handle.
• Only use the size wrench that the job requires. Wrenches with worn jaws or teeth shouldn’t be used. Adjustable wrenches should be tested to ensure they adjust and work freely.

Learning first aid is something touted by everyone from safety experts to nurses and doctors as being of the utmost importance. Many of us say we will do it later or wonder how important it could really be to learn something as seemingly simple as first aid. However, knowing how to properly administer first aid to an injured individual can decrease the severity of their injuries and even potentially save their life.

A small cut, burn, bump to the head, or other minor injury might seem like a trivial event, but even the most minor injury can turn into a serious medical problem without the appropriate first aid measures. For example, a small cut can become infected, fester, and become very painful unless properly attended. Such injuries can even cause the person to miss work, which causes both employer and employee to lose valuable money and time.

Although usually done with the best intentions, individuals that haven’t received first aid training often make multiple mistakes as they try to help someone with an injury. Such mistakes can make the injury worse or even have deadly consequences for the injured person. Let’s look at some of the most commonly offered bad advice and mistakes made by those untrained to deliver first aid:

1. Tilt your head back to stop your nose bleed. A person with a bleeding nose should never lean or tilt their head back, as this can cause the blood to run into their throat and potentially cause them to choke on their own blood. Instead, the person should take a seated position, lean forward, and pinch their nose just underneath the sides of the nasal bone. This position should be held for five to ten minutes. The person shouldn’t blow or pick at their nose and they shouldn’t bend over for several hours after the nose bleed subsides. Nosebleeds that continue over 20 minutes require medical attention.

2. Failing to act quickly in emergency situations. This is by far one of the most common first aid mistakes people make. Your response time to a co-worker suffering a laceration over an artery could mean the difference between him bleeding to death in a matter of minutes and having a story to tell his family about his co-worker saving his life. You should act quickly and calmly to elevate the area above the person’s heart (if possible) and apply direct pressure over the wound. Keep in mind that even injuries not of such direness should have a speedy reaction. For example, an untreated minor scratch on a piece of rusty metal can cause some serious complications, such as tetanus or sepsis. You should wash minor scratches, scrapes, and cuts with either clean running water or an antiseptic solution, apply an antibiotic ointment, and cover the area with a sterile gauze dressing.

3. Move that badly injured person to safety. Unless an injured person is in an immediate and severely life threatening situation, they should never be moved. And, severely life threatening means circumstances like being moments from being burned alive within their wrecked car. Otherwise, you should immediately dial 911 and wait for the paramedics to arrive.

4. Put ice/butter on your burn. Neither of these are appropriate treatments for a skin burn. Ice can cause the skin to get frostbitten, which only exacerbates burn damage. Butter can actually prevent the skin from healing as it should. It’s also worth mentioning that blisters from a burn should never be popped, as this increases the chances of the area becoming infected. Ointments should also be avoided initially because they can hold in heat. Instead, minor burns should be washed under cool water for about ten minutes and then have a sterile gauze bandage applied over it.

As you can see, the proper first aid training is essential to knowing what to do when injuries occur. It’s too late to get the training after an injury occurs; sign up for a first aid course before it’s needed. Do make sure that the first aid course you sign up for has a qualified instructor.

Modern technology has made it easier than ever for employees to work from home and still remain connected to their place of employment. Using remote employment has actually become a popular trend over the last ten years, especially since selling to the global market has become such an important factor in a business being competitive. Many businesses have found that they can minimize their expenses and attract international customers with more attractive prices if they decrease their overhead by allowing workers to remotely commute.

Despite the many benefits of using remote employees, there are downsides. Many employers considering this trend wonder how they can ensure workplace safety when the employee’s physical workplace is their own home. Another consideration is the degree of employer liability in remote employment.

Fortunately, OSHA has addressed some of the safety issues surrounding remote employment. According to OSHA guidelines, employers are required to maintain a safe workplace, even for employees working from their own home. OSHA will not require an employer to inspect a remote employee’s home worksite, nor inspect it themselves. However, OSHA may inspect the worksite of an employee that’s performing an at-home job on behalf of their employer if it possibly involves health or safety hazards and there’s a complaint. A record of all occupational illnesses and injuries must be kept on all at-home workers if an employer is subject to OSHA record keeping requirements. Keeping in mind that OSHA compliance measures shouldn’t involve controlling the home worksite of employees, employers might need to take some additional practical measures to ensure OSHA compliance.

As far as safety compliance goes, the absence of immediate supervision for remote workers is one of the main problems employers face. Experienced, highly-trained, long-term employers are generally the worst offenders when it comes to taking safety risks. This group of employees often become complacent due to the fact they’re so accustomed and comfortable with their job, feel they’re familiar with the job’s hazards, and might have escaped disciplinary action when ignoring safety procedures or taking shortcuts in the past.

One of the best ways that employers can counteract the above dangerous attitude toward safety is by using a holistic approach to safety. Employers should focus and place great importance on each individual employee actively participating in the safety process and taking responsibility for their own safety. Whether at home, on the road, or at a remote jobsite, remote employees need to be ready, willing, and able to take the appropriate actions to protect themselves in any given situation.

Employers will need employee support to make any approach to safety successful, which means that employers must have total employee involvement in the safety process. Involve your remote employees in the process of determining what’s needed to prevent injury to themselves and others during remote location work. Most employers find that the experience and firsthand knowledge of their employees is actually very advantageous in creating safe remote worksites.

Remember, employees that understand the value of safety are more likely to be motivated and willing participants. They’re also more apt to embrace safety behaviors for the longevity of their employment. Employers can reinforce their employee’s positive attitude about safety by having electronic or person-to-person safety counseling in place and ensuring safety managers are encouraging safety participation.

Our hands are used in almost all daily activities, work or leisure. But, for some reason, we often overlook just how frequently our hands are used until they are injured.

According to the National Safety Council (NSC), the hands are involved in one of every five occupational injuries. This statistic really isn’t all that surprising once a worker stops to consider the array occupational hazards, such as tools, solvents, and chemicals, that are capable of causing burns, contusions, and lacerations to the hands. That said, workers can protect their hands and avoid a lot of unnecessary injuries by taking a few precautions.

Material Safety Data Sheet. Some chemicals can burn your hands immediately following contact. Before handling any chemical, it’s of vital importance that you’re familiar with Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), as these forms will instruct you on the safe handling and use of certain potentially harmful chemicals.

Hand Washing/Cleaning Procedures

• Apply lotion if your job requires frequent hand washing.
• Use mild soap and water to wash hands; dry them thoroughly.
• Avoid harsh and abrasive cleaners.
• When removing tar, grease, or paint, use a waterless cleaner.
• Never wash hands with benzene, paint thinner, gasoline, or other harsh solvents.
• Flush hands under running water for 20 minutes or longer after your hands come into contact with any corrosive chemical.
• If a minor skin laceration occurs, wash it immediately and seek medical treatment.

Using Gloves

• The MSDS can alert you to what type of glove should be donned when handling potentially harmful chemicals.
• Throw any frayed, tattered, or worn gloves away.
• Never share gloves with co-workers.
• Never immerse your hand in chemical agents, even if gloved.
• Asbestos or leather gloves are used to protect against heat.
• Neoprene or rubber gloves are used to protect against corrosive chemicals.
• Cotton, leather, or PVC gloves are used to protect against abrasives.
• Synthetic knit or cotton gloves with gripping dots are used when hand-grip is needed.
• Kevlara, heavy leather, or metal-mesh gloves are used to help prevent cuts to the hand.
• Never wear gloves with any metal features when working near electrical hazards.
• Avoid wearing gloves around moving equipment.

Avoiding Contusions and Lacerations

• All tools should be properly maintained on a regular basis.
• Safety guards should never be removed and a tool without the appropriate guard shouldn’t be used until it’s in proper working order.
• Lockout equipment when making repairs or cleaning it.
• Wear metal-mesh, leather, or Kevlara gloves when handling or operating sharp and bladed tools.
• Don’t do a job if you don’t have the appropriate tool.

These simple safety precautions can help you keep one of your most important assets, your hands, intact.

Many understand that cardiac arrest is a serious problem involving the heart, but most don’t know the specifics of the subject, just what a killer it can be, or how to respond when it occurs in the workplace.

Quick Facts about Cardiac Arrest. Cardiac arrest is when the pump function of the heart suddenly stops. Ventricular fibrillation, also called V-fib, is where the lower chambers of the heart quiver instead of normally contracting. Pulseless ventricular tachycardia involves an extremely fast heartbeat, but without effective cardiac output in the lower chambers of the heart and no effective pulse. These irregular heart rhythms can cause the heart to suddenly stop pumping blood out to the rest of the body. The most common cause of a sudden cardiac arrest is a heart attack involving either of the above irregular heart rhythms. Bradycardia, which is a slow heartbeat, accounts for a small number of cardiac arrests.

The causative factors are vast, including illegal drugs and certain prescription medications, respiratory arrest, drowning, trauma, choking, and electrocution. A previous diagnosis of heart disease may or may not exist. Sometimes a cardiac arrest occurs without any apparent causative agent.

Someone suffering a cardiac arrest will suddenly collapse, be unresponsive to verbal stimuli and gentle shaking, and cease to breathe normally. The person will also have an absent pulse, but those not medically trained should look for signs of circulation (normal breathing, coughing, twitching, movement, and improved color) instead of checking for a pulse.

Once the heart fails to pump blood to the rest of the body, it only takes four to six minutes for brain damage to begin. Without immediate appropriate treatment, the victim can die within minutes. It’s estimated that 95% cardiac arrest victims die before they ever reach the hospital.

Chance of survival is decreased by seven to ten percent per minute of delay until defibrillation, when CPR isn’t performed. The sudden cardiac arrest survival rate is 48-74% when CPR is immediately initiated and defibrillation takes place within three to five minutes.

Should You Have An Automatic External Defibrillator? Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) have become commonplace in schools, casinos, and airports. Knowing the above facts, employers should definitely consider having an AED as part of their workplace safety program. After the electrodes are applied to the victim’s chest, the device evaluates cardiac wave patterns. If the machine finds an abnormality, such as ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia, it sends an electric shock to the heart to return it to a normal rhythm.

The operation of such a machine may send the red flags of liability up for some employers. Thanks to every state having Good Samaritan laws covering lay rescuers using an AED and the civil liability immunity provided by the Federal Cardiac Arrest Survival Act, you don’t have to worry about liability issues. An AED isn’t like the advanced defibrillators used by medical professionals. In fact, The American Heart Association says that since an AED automatically analyzes and shocks, it be safely operated by trained lay rescuers. The machine is compact, portable, battery operated, easy to use, durable, and lightweight.

Aside from the potential for any employee to have an accident or underlying medical condition, American workplaces are seeing more and more employees working long past retirement age. Depending on the response of emergency services can lose precious minutes, and since the amount of time elapsed between cardiac arrest and defibrillation is directly linked to the survival of the victim, an AED can mean the difference between life and death. It just makes good sense to have at least a few of your employees trained to operate an AED.

Although the term ergonomics was first used in the late eighteenth century, it wasn’t until after World War II that the field known today as ergonomics really began to shape product design and human interaction with surrounding elements.

What Is Ergonomics? Today, ergonomics is something frequently touted by an array of professionals, from marketing and IT experts to those in the health care field. The problem is that some have a very specific and straightforward idea of what the term ergonomics means and others try to make anything and everything fit the term. The result is many that are seeking information on ergonomics walk away from the subject more confused than ever.

Evidence of the premise of what’s now known as ergonomics can be found by looking at ancient Hellenic civilizations and early Egyptians that used many ergonomic principles in their tool and workplace designs. The word is actually derived from two Greek words – ergon and nomoi. Ergon means work and nomoi means natural laws. So, ergonomics is the science of work and the human relationship to work. According to The International Ergonomics Association, the technical definition of ergonomics is a science discipline that’s concerned with comprehending human interaction with other elements of a system -and- a profession that uses data, principles, methods, and theory on a design so that it can be optimized for system performance and human well-being. A much simpler way to describe ergonomics is the science of making things around us both comfortable and efficient for our usage. Those that practice within this field are called ergonomists. Ergonomists are concerned with the science of work. They basically study work to determine how it’s performed and how it can be performed better. Ergonomics becomes useful to most every profession in that it attempts to make improvements to whatever work is being done by making things (products, processes, and services) around us more comfortable and efficient.

What Does Ergonomics Mean to Me? Now that the definition of ergonomics is clearer, users can better understand what they are most concerned with – how they use a service or product, how it meets their needs, and if they will like using it. The answers to these questions can be found by looking at the comfort and efficiency involved with ergonomics.

Comfort and efficiency go hand and hand, as comfort is one of the most important aspects of whether or not a design is effective. It goes far beyond just having something soft. Comfort in the mental elements of a service or product and during human to machine interaction are key concerns in ergonomic design.

Physical comfort in the human-machine interaction is often the first thing noticed during usage. Having this physical comfort from how the machine feels is important to users. Essentially, you aren’t going to continue to touch something that doesn’t feel good to you. Not touching it means you aren’t operating it, which thereby makes it useless. Any designer will tell you that usage is the only true measure of design quality. It’s their job to come up with inventive ways to increase the usage of their product or service. And, as mentioned above, comfort has everything to do with how often an item is used. Comfort also comes from mental aspects. What a product looks and feels like, its durability, and ease of use helps us make a mental evaluation as to if the quality of an item is congruent with what it costs. The more ergonomically designed a product or service is, the higher the quality and value perception about it will be.

Efficiency can essentially be viewed as making a process easier to perform. This may be in the form of making something more physically efficient by reducing the amount of strength required during the process, making something faster by reducing how many steps are involved in the process, reducing the amount of training or knowledge required during the process to make a task easier to complete and allow more people to safely perform the task, reducing the amount of parts composing a product to make repairs and upkeep easier, and so forth.

Much like comfort, if something is more efficient, then it’s easier to do, more likely to be done, and more likely to be done more often. Although often complicated by extensive technical terminology, the basic premise is that comfort adds to ease of use and ease of use adds to comfort, thereby making products more useful.

Workplace stress is evidenced every day, but few employers truly understand the secondary ramifications that stress can cause in the workplace. Four out of five American workers are thought to be affected by workplace stress, which is costing U.S. businesses about $300 billion each year from stress related: absenteeism, employee turnover, medical, insurance premiums, workers’ compensation, lawsuits, and diminished productivity.

Since stress is a subjective experience, it can be difficult to define. Further complicating matters is the difficulty to distinguish where work stress begins and everyday stress ends. However, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work offers an excellent definition for workplace stress: “people experience stress when they perceive an imbalance between the demands made of them and the resources they have available to cope with those demands.”

While a slippery slope to harmful stress, there’s a place for “good stress” or “eustress” in the workplace. This type of non-harmful stress can be compared to an athlete preparing for an event; while the preparation might be stressful, it could mean improved performance. A good rule of thumb for distinguishing between the two is that if the stress is chronic in nature, then it’s harmful.

Since the start of downsizing and outsourcing trends of the 1990’s, which caused a constant fear of unemployment, there is an ever growing awakening by the scientific and business community about the causes of stress and its’ physical and mental health effects. These factors are endless: a predominately service-oriented U.S. economy, growth of new operating systems, faster work pace, longer hours, and utilization of contract and temporary workers. Whatever the cause, some research has shown that about 35% of workers experience high levels of on-the-job stress and 13% are always stressed at work.

For an employer, stress has a direct effect on cost. Among that 35% of highly stressed employees above, there was a 50% increase (an extra $600 dollars per worker each year) in health care utilization cost to each employer. If depression is involved, the additional cost is even higher, as these employees use their health care plans about 70% (an extra $950 per employee) more often than average. Combine depression and stress, and the cost is astronomical – an additional $2,000 dollars per worker each year. Regardless of where the stress originates, the above is a tremendous added cost to the employer.

Employers are also starting to connect the dots between stress and productivity in a service-based economy. When stress slows the productivity of someone pushing a button on a conveyor belt, it may lower productivity. Change the stressed employee to a customer service position, and there can be a direct loss of business. Employer realization to all of the above has prompted many to develop programs to slash the long-term cost of stress, boost employee morale, and constructively boost productivity. The employer essentially has two choices:

1. View and treat reported cases of stress as an employees’ problem.
2. Acknowledge the real nature of the problem and take action to do something about it.

An increasing number of employers are opting for the second approach. Some are even actively engaged in reducing workplace stress by changing the key elements of the workplace, a tactic known as “organization of work.”

Organization of work is not a one-size-fits-all concept, but it essentially addresses the way jobs are designed and performed, along with any organizational practices that influence the job design. A key element to the success of organization of work will be involving employees in the design, implementation, and evaluation of the program. There should be an open dialogue, without fear of repercussion, for employees to assist in identifying and resolving problems.

An appealing element of addressing workplace stress with organization of work is that it doesn’t have to be a massive undertaking. In fact, it is best to build the program one piece at a time. For example, many companies will start off with an employee survey. Keep in mind that the focus should be working conditions and work-related factors that are not based on an individual judgment, but rather an employee consensus. The expertise of a consult might be beneficial if you get stuck during the process.

Sadly, current employees are not the only ones experiencing unprecedented levels of stress. A recent study showed the teenagers and the college-aged are claiming anxiety and mental health issues five times greater than their counterparts did during the Great Depression era. So, employees that are struggling with stressed employees today can possibly look forward to facing the challenge of a whole new batch of stressed employees in the future.

In recent years, team building has gained a foothold in corporate America as a fun and effective management tool. To be successful in the business world, employees must be able to effectively plan and execute programs as a team, communicate clearly, use resources efficiently, and be able to adapt to changing circumstances.

Team building is designed to do utilize these skills, in a fun environment. It can encourage out-of-the box thinking and enhance group dynamics, breaking down barriers that prevent employees from working together as a team. Activities foster decision-making, challenge resolution and leadership skills. Exercises can be designed to encourage individuals in a group to entrust their safety in one another or to experience the exhilaration of overcoming a physical challenge. Participants return to work infused with renewed vigor. The goal is to transfer the collaborative effort, positive energy and learning that take place during a team-building activity back into the workplace.

But team building can also be a risk manager’s nightmare when activities include dangerous physical elements. Companies must consider the risks involved in such hazardous activities. They can lead to an increase in the frequency and severity of employee injuries, leaving the company vulnerable to higher workers’ compensation costs – not to mention employee lawsuits.

If team-building activities are part of your company’s management philosophy for bringing employees together to work cohesively as a group, make certain that safety is part of the equation. Consultants brought in to design such programs should know your expectations and concerns and abide by them. A company in Miami that hired a consultant for team building found that a dozen or so of its 100 employees suffered 1st and 2nd degree burns when they were forced to engage in a firewalk. The consultant called the injury rate “acceptable.”

Activities such as white water rafting, rock climbing, and paintball might not be suitable for all employees. Besides the physical hazards, planners need to consider whether or not an activity might be embarrassing for some employees. An activity that requires participants to wear a bathing suit, for example, might make some employees self-conscious and inhibit their ability to fully engage in the collaborative effort.

To promote safe team building:

• Include team-building activities as part of any formal risk management program.
• Emphasize the need to exercise caution on the job and in any physical team-building exercise.
• Define your needs clearly to management consultants, hired to design a team-building program.
• Ensure team-building activities are properly supervised.
• Stop any activity if an unsafe situation is observed.

Team building has an important place in business. Activities should focus on bringing employees together. Make team building a safe experience that everyone can participate in and enjoy.