That accidents happen in the workplace because of negligible acts by the company and its employees is without a doubt. However, sometimes accidents are purely unpredictable and can happen even in the most careful of setups. Research has indicated that fatigue is one of the main causes of catastrophes that occur in the workplace. When an individual is fatigued, they are more likely to cause injuries because their thinking ability is considerably reduced. It results from the lack of sleep or too much workload. Fatigue makes an employee vulnerable to dangerous injuries around the office (Biddle, 2009). Research has indicated that 20% of accidents in the workplace result from lack of concentration, whose main cause if fatigue. For instance, an individual is more likely to fall from a staircase at work when they are fatigued because of absent mindedness. They could also staple themselves, operate a machine wrongly or spill a dangerous chemical when they are fatigued.
Office floors are also a major cause of accidents in the workplace. According to the European Agency of Health and Safety at work, a number of accidents have resulted from slips dues to slippery factory floors. Factory floors are subject to a lot of liquid and chemical spills, all of which usually cause accidents. Most workplaces require that floors are clean up from time to time. However, a workplace environment can get extremely busy that the cleaning of floors might be postponed for a while. Spills are hard to notice in an environment that is busy. Nobody pays attention to the floors. As a result, people might fall and get injured grossly. For example, a worker might sustain back injuries, or in cases where they were in possession of dangerous chemicals or machines at the time of the slip, get fatally injured. Trips are also very common in the workplace. They result from the negligible act of leaving everything lying around in a haphazard manner. They occur in unorganized workplaces and result in falling that can cause multiple injuries. Some workplaces do not practice the ethics of having a clean and organized environment. For example, a workplace may have dirt bins wrongly placed along the corridors and cause a person to trip when they are in a hurry.
Stress has also been noted to cause at least 30% of the accidents at work. Employees are usually prone to stress over their job security, threats, abusive bosses and a lot of workloads. Stress is a limiting factor to absolute concentration and impairs an individual’s better judgment of a dangerous situation in the workplace that could result in injury. A stressed employee is to a higher degree distracted and would be the cause of a lot of damage at work (Barrett, 2001). For example, a factory or laboratory worker may use the wrong chemical and cause a fire. In a normal office setup, a stressed individual may burn themselves while trying to fix some coffee or cause electrical problems while carrying out their normal functions. Also, workplace conflicts may result in violent acts that can injure people, which make them a cause of the injuries at work. People involved in conflicts are dangerous because their ability to be reasonable is hindered. Employees might be involved in violent outbursts around the office that may result in injuries. For example, they may throw dangerous objects such as knives at each other and cause harm to themselves and those around them.
Collisions are also a top cause of the injuries in the workplace. They are accidents that occur in the least expected times and could be dangerous to parties involved. They are the most form of innocent causes of accidents because they are rarely predictable. For example, a person might open the door just as somebody else was going passing and hence, inflict injuries upon them. Another cause, according to research is the improper anchoring of objects in the workplace. Cabinets, machine holders, bookcases and the likes may lack proper fitting that will result to them coming down at an unforeseen time and fall on people at work. They are referred to as toppling accidents and result in a 15% of the injuries at work.
In a factory, laboratory or hospital set ups, the workforce may inhale some poisonous gasses from laboratories. These gasses can slip from their secured zones and get inhaled by the people around them. They may have catastrophic effects on the health of people and could lead to death. Also, employees are at times negligent when it comes to wearing protective gear (Keller, 2000). These environments require them always to wear protective clothing, but some may take them off during breaks or when they see no sign of looming danger. As a result, they may accrue several injuries when accidents, which do not have specific timing, occur. Lastly, back injuries can be a caused by lifting of heavy objects around the workplace and can eventually cause serious health concerns.
Research shows that an approximate 5,000 individuals die annually in the European Union, with 75,000 more being permanently disabled as a result of workplace injuries. Accidents occur, but that does not mean they are not preventable. The issue of stress and fatigue can be reduced by proper shifting in work schedules to avoid overworking employees and improve their concentration. The shifting system has been effective in many work circles. Managers and bosses should also approach leadership in a friendly way that would reduce employee stress and assure them of job security. Safety management training that covers all the areas of accidents should be put in the company policies of every workplace.
The employees need to be well equipped with knowledge on how to promote safety in the workplace (Butler & Park, 2005. Equally, the wearing of protective gear in the workplace should be taken seriously, where an individual should lose their job if they are spotted without their gear. The organizations should each have a body that evaluates the safe environment of the workplace on a frequent basis to reduce cases of toppling accidents, trips and slips. The body should note any inconsistencies that are in the workplace and have them fixed. Also, management ought to be serious on fostering an organized environment in the workplace through the strict follow-up of the relevant people involved in cleaning and maintenance.
References
Barrett, B. (2001). Health and safety at work: Whose responsibility?
Biddle, E. (2009). The Cost of fatal injuries to civilian workers in the United States, 1992-2001. Cincinnati, OH: Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Butler, R., & Park, Y. (2005). Safety practices, firm culture, and workplace injuries. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
Keller, J. (2000). Accident Investigation in the Workplace Safety in Action Handbook: Accident Investigation in the Workplace. (2nd Ed.). Neenah: J.J. Keller & Associates.
