February 13, 2019

Do You Need to Reevaluate Your Workplace Safety Features for 2019?

As an employer, it’s your job to ensure that your company is following proper safety protocols and maintaining a safe environment for employees. Workplace protocols are continuously being updated, and staying in the loop can be challenging—but it’s important. Consistently reevaluating your workplace safety features, such as machine safety, allows key processes to continue running smoothly. Unfortunately, many companies don’t realize what needs to be done until they find themselves faced with employee injuries, downtime, and fines.

Being proactive is crucial to staying ahead of certain risks and creating a safer workplace. That means ensuring your company is complying with the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) regulations. Each year, OSHA puts out a list of the top 10 most cited violations. Even if you haven’t been fined for any reason, this list acts as a good starting point for making sure your safety protocols are up to date. If you are on the fence about whether you’re compliant on some regulations, it’s most likely time for a review of your safety plan.

When You Need to Reevaluate

There’s never a wrong time to reevaluate your workplace safety features, but many companies seem to struggle to find the right time to do it. While the process can be costly and takes time away from work, having an evaluation can save you money and prevent workplace injury in the long run. More injuries on the job, employees missing work more frequently, and recent fines are all signs that you should take a step back and figure out what needs to change in order to create a safer work environment for your employees.

New OSHA Rules and Regulations

As OSHA continues to create new rules and regulations, you should make sure to keep up and integrate those changes into your business practices. OSHA compliance is essential to the well-being of your employees as well as that of your company. Training your employees in the correct way, having proper machine safeguards, and taking the time to ensure effective communication are just some of the ways you can maintain a compliant workplace.

OSHA’s top 10 list of the most cited violations provides an excellent measuring tool to see where you stand with some of your safety features. Here are the most common violations of 2018:

  • Fall protection general requirements

  • Hazard communication

  • Scaffolding

  • Respiratory protection

  • Lockout/tagout

  • Ladders

  • Powered industrial trucks

  • Fall protection training requirements

  • Machine guarding

  • Personal protective & life-saving equipment (eye and face protection)

If you found your company being cited for any of the above, it’s time for some changes to be made. In order to prevent injury and heavy fines, take the time to make sure that your employees are getting any necessary training, using the proper machine safeguards, and communicating correctly.

Emerging Technology and Advancements

Just as OSHA regulations change, so do technology and industry standards. Rapidly advancing technologies can make keeping up difficult, but you should stay aware of them, at the very least, until they become standard and can be integrated into your practice. In the meantime, make sure to acknowledge the newest safety features and investigate how your company can be utilizing them to improve productivity and efficiency in the workplace. Essentially, you can help your company avoid being left behind in the industry by consistently having your safety protocols and features assessed as new technology emerges.

Regular Safety Evaluations

As a leader at your company, it may seem as though you have everything under control—but it simply isn’t possible for you to see everything that is going on at once. Creating a plan and scheduling time to consistently evaluate your workplace safety is crucial, for your employees and for your business. Conducting a safety assessment a couple of times a year can help you identify areas where your company lacks key precautions, and then bridge that gap.

Machine Guarding Assessments from Stronghold Safety

If you are ready to reevaluate your workplace safety, our team here at Stronghold Safety Engineering can provide a comprehensive machine guarding assessment and determine risks in areas such as OSHA violations, industry standards, ANSI, NFPA, and recognized hazards. For over 15 years, we’ve helped industrial workplaces become safer and more productive by engineering and implementing solutions designed to protect what’s most important to your business. By eliminating these risks, you can safeguard your employees and maximize productivity. Contact us today to get started on creating a safer workplace.