Is Your Workplace Susceptible to These Injuries?

When you think about workplace injuries, visions of industrial equipment and hard hats may circle your head. But even white-collar offices are susceptible to the most common injuries reported to insurance carriers.

Have you considered these potential injuries that could easily happen at work?

What are the most common workplace injuries?

According to protectiveinsurance.com, the most common workplace injury of 2023 was lifting, followed by slips, trips, and falls as a close second.

While some of these injuries may be workplace-specific, most could occur anywhere -- including your work site.

How do you prevent injuries at work?

Although it’s impossible to eliminate workplace accidents altogether, any proactive effort towards workplace safety can make a significant impact.

To help avoid unnecessary injuries, assess your workplace on a regular basis. Focus specifically on areas, systems, and processes that have the greatest potential for causing injury. Then spend some time talking about the below safety tips with your staff.

Tips for Preventing Soft Tissue Injuries

Soft tissue injuries (bruises, sprains, muscle contusions) can happen from standing up, falling down, and anything in between. These injuries range from minor to severe, can be painful and debilitating, and oftentimes lead to missed work.

While you can’t always prevent a soft tissue injury, the following can help reduce your risk:

• Stretch daily. If you’re sitting at a desk all day, try some of these 11 easy desk stretches.
• Wear shoes that fit properly.
• Warm up before any activity (including walking).
• Create an ergonomical workspace.

Tips for Preventing Pushing and Pulling Injuries

Pushing and pulling may seem like regular, ordinary movements… until you feel pain. Beyond following safety rules and wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), here are several tips to help avoid serious injury:

• Bend at the knees rather than at your waist.
• Always use appropriate conveyors, lifts, trucks, and other equipment to make pushing or pulling easier. Be sure to report broken or malfunctioning equipment immediately.
• Ensure you have a good grip before pulling.
• Always use two hands for pushing or pulling tasks.
• Try converting a pulling task into a pushing task whenever possible.
• Ask your supervisor if you have questions about a task.

Tips for Preventing Lifting and Lowering Injuries

While it’s easy to get caught in the moment and insist you’re in the best shape of your life, nobody will be impressed when you injure yourself. Not only should you follow safety rules and wear the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), consider the following tips to help avoid injury:

• Don’t try and lift or lower more than is specified by protocol or procedure.
• If a task calls for two people, don’t try to do it yourself.
• Bend at the knees rather than at your waist.
• Always use appropriate lifts, hoists, conveyors, pallets, and other equipment to assist in lifting and lowering tasks. Report broken or malfunctioning equipment immediately.
• Avoid bending and twisting at the same time, when possible.
• When lifting, hold the item or load as closely to your body as possible.
• Ask your supervisor if you have questions about a task.

Remember, taking a few minutes to talk about potential injuries from everyday motions can prevent accidents --- which, in turn, helps you avoid staffing shortages and unnecessary workers’ comp claims. For more safety tips, please contact your certified HR expert.

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