Why Safety is a State of Mind
When it comes to safety in the workplace, the state of mind of employees can go a long way toward ensuring a safe and healthy work environment.
Keeping employees safe involves things like providing adequate safety training, making sure personal protective equipment is worn, protecting against exposure to toxic chemicals, and much more. However, there also are certain mindsets that employers must recognize to keep everyone on a worksite as safe as possible. And while some of these mindsets are harder to identify than a broken piece of machinery or an unsafe scaffolding, they are just as dangerous.
1. Fatigue. Being overworked or overtired can lead to a decrease in performance. Fatigue can be caused by a lack of sleep, working too many hours in a row, or working in the hot sun for too long. It is important that employers set realistic goals and deadlines in order that employees do not feel the pressure to work longer hours than necessary to get a job done on time.
2. Complacency. Many workers believe that accidents always occur to someone else or on another worksite. This mindset often occurs when employees are not trained or made aware of all of the very real dangers they face.
3. Frustration. Even the best employees can become frustrated when they feel that they are not valued and appreciated. In order to keep frustration at a minimum, it is vital that workers know their safety and well-being is their employer’s number one priority. Unfortunately, even when employers do all they can for their employees, some employees just have a bad attitude. It is imperative that employers remove such employees because their bad attitudes are contagious. Further, workers that are not able to control their emotions are always dangerous on a worksite – especially one that is already high-risk because of the nature of the work.
4. Rushing. If employees are under constant pressure to get tasks completed under tight deadlines, it is inevitable that they will rush to get things done. And while they may meet their deadline, chances are the outcome will be less than ideal. Further, rushing not only leads to sloppy work, it drastically increases the chances of accidents and injuries.
If you want to keep your employees’ eyes and minds on the job at hand, it is important that your send a message that their safety and a job well done is more important than anything else. By doing so you will find that your worksite is safer and the product it produces is of the highest quality.
