Workplace safety is concerned with the prevention of injury or the creation of illness to its most important asset: its employees. Over the past few decades, laws have been passed to ensure that workers are protected from hazards in the workplace. Employers are responsible for safeguarding the health and safety of their employees. By protecting its employees, a business reduces the amount paid out in health benefits, worker’s compensation benefits and the cost of wages for temporary replacement help.

To just get a dollars and cents appreciation of the financial impact of on–the-job injuries or illness, total the cost of:

• The lost number of employee work days
• Cost of continuing wages to injured or ill employees
• The time spent orienting temporary or replacement employees
• The programs and services that are not up to par because the regular employees are not there
• The additional strain on the employees who may be required to pick up the absent employee’s load
• Reduced morale among employees with possible decrease in efficiency
• Possibly increased workers’ compensation premiums
• Time and cost involved in completion of paperwork generated by the incident
• The possibility of having to suspend or discontinue a program due to the absence of vital employees
• Time and cost of repair or replacement of equipment damaged by workplace accident
  

To make the workplace safer, the business organization must recognize and acknowledge the potential health and safety hazards that are present in the environment. Determine where and how a worker could be injured or become ill. What could cause harm? Individual programs and work sites should be evaluated and problems identified.
Look at the work environment and ask:

• Where are the hazards?
• What is the harm potential?
• Is there an electrical danger? This could be as small as a frayed electrical cord.
• Are there toxic chemicals?
• Is there mold or lead based paint?
• Is the lifting of heavy objects necessary?
• Is repetitive motion necessary?
  

OSHA describes a ‘hazard analysis’ of the job dangers as a technique that focuses on the various tasks required by the job to identify problems before they develop. The Nonprofit Risk Management Center describes this process as ‘evaluating the parts to strengthen the whole’. A successful analysis examines the worker, the job to be done and the tools to be used.

Once the specific hazards are identified, it is up to management and the employees to work together for solutions. Their task is to develop cooperative methods to address the specific hazards of the job and to implement ways to get the work done safely.

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