Work safe. Save money: safety is essential in the workplace and impacts the bottom line.

• Author: Myers, Deborah J.

If employee safety is not a high priority in your company, it should be. It's not just a touchy-feely, do-gooder issue; employee safety directly impacts your bottom line.

"A happy, healthy work force will be more effective," said Chris Burns, safety training and planning coordinator for Alaska Chadux Corp. in Anchorage. "It's better for morale."

By preventing turnover, you save the costs of downtime and recruiting and training new employees.

Safe employers also may prevent damage to equipment and save money on injuries, said Shannon Brady Garman, a consultant with Wellness Initiatives Network for Alaska Inc. (WIN for Alaska) in Anchorage. "Safety is a priority. If you don't have it, your business will fail. Workers' compensation and liability claims can wipe away your profit."

Summer Bass Neuroth, also a consultant at WIN for Alaska, agrees.

"You have to cover your bases," she said. "In the long run, it will pay off."

BE PREPARED

It may seem easy enough to simply say, "okay, we're going to be safe," but it is important to develop a process and course of action in becoming a safer workplace.

"Companies need to formalize how they intend to manage safety, and health issues in general," said Eric Shortt, a certified industrial hygienist in Anchorage.

This could include programs for respiratory protection, fall protection, hazardous energy lock-out/tag-out, confined space entry, hot work, bloodborne pathogen exposure, and many others workplace risks.

The first step to becoming a safer workplace is to become aware of the inherent dangers in your workplace. Burns calls this a "hazard analysis."

"That would deal with the physical threats in the environment," he said. "Examine the work environment and examine the jobs."

The work environment can include employees' specific work areas, air quality and chemical exposure. For example, are the employees likely to trip in their cluttered work areas? Is getting fresh air a problem? Are they constantly exposed to chemicals that are harmful to breathe, according to the Material Safety Data Sheets?

The individual job hazards have more to do with the employees' actions. For instance, must they repeatedly place their bodies in awkward positions to accomplish their job duties? Is their work inordinately stressful? Are their shifts too long for the type of work they must do?

To get more ideas on possible safety hazards, Shortt recommends perusing your industry-specific trade magazines and tapping trade organizations for ideas.

"They provide key safety and risk management issues," he said.

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