safety in workplace

What is the Benefit of Working with ResponsAble?

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working with responsable

If you’re considering solutions for staffing your sites and jobs, you may be thinking to yourself – why would I hire ResponsAble? It’s a valid question. We’d love to tell you some of the perks and benefits of being our partner, as well as some secrets behind our process.

We’re driven by value. ResponsAble is a sincere company. We truly want to be valuable to our customers. We know that what we do isn’t needed by everyone, but we’re the best option for those who do. We want you to know that we’re here to create value for those who have a need for safety personnel.

We take what we do very seriously. We’re in this business because we believe safety matters. It’s the livelihood of real people. We also know the only way to develop a valuable business relationship is to do good work. We want to provide the best match for every job. As an additional service, we also want to be a resource for our clients in whatever their safety needs may be. We’ve built a team that takes both seriously.

We can accommodate your needs. We work with a variety of customers in different work environments. This allows us to keep our employees consistently working and allows them to bring more experience to your jobsite. As they work, they gain more and more exposure and opportunity to grow their safety tool belt.  You can discuss specific needs you have and we’ll supply the perfect person for the job.

We do both temp and direct hiring. Whatever your safety staffing need, we are equipped to handle it. Keep all of your business under one partnership. If you don’t have the internal personnel to cover your safety needs, we can supply ongoing support or on a project-to-project basis.

We keep it simple for you. We assign a ResponsAble Project Manager to every project. Their job is to assist you with the staffing needs, support you in managing safety compliance, and help recruit, vet and staff as your needs change! That’s right, we do all of this for you so that you can focus on your project.

ResponsAble helps you find the right people with the necessary skills to effectively and safely complete the job. Big or small, temporary or permanent. ResponsAble has the ability to truly customize our approach. We have the ability to staff experienced Safety Professionals and Managers, Confined Space/Hole Watch Attendants, and Industrial Laborers. Get in touch and let’s talk about how ResponsAble may be a benefit to you. 

Creating an Environment of Safety

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environment of safety

In the type of work you do, safety is no joke. The responsibility for your staff’s safety and wellbeing is a heavy load. Here are a few tips for creating a culture and rhythm of prioritizing safety in your workplace.

Include intensive safety training in the onboarding process. When you hire a new staff member, don’t skimp on the onboarding process. This training is critical to staff competency and efficiency. It also sets expectations and defines priorities for the work environment that you want to create.

Provide clear guidelines and checklists. Make sure your employees know what the safety protocols are and are equipped to follow them. 

Host monthly safety lunches. Provide lunch one day a month and have a project manager present relevant safety topics. Discuss topics that apply to current jobs or projects so that workplace safety is fresh. When you make it a priority to present information, your staff understand it as an important workplace consideration.

Post safety information in the workspace. Hang posters, reminders, and instructions around the workplace as visual reminders of safety considerations and information.

Orient staff on new equipment. When new tools and equipment are introduced, set aside time to go over instructions for use and safety considerations of the new equipment. Many suppliers will include safety information that can be easily shared with your staff as they begin use.

Lead by example. Your company’s leadership should prioritize safety as much as they desire the staff to. They should implement the same precaution and follow the set guidelines as are expected of all employees.

The liability is not worth the risk of safety. Promote an environment of safety in your workplace by creating intentional touchpoints and rhythms that communicate it as a priority to your staff. This investment will pay dividends over time.

Tips for Keeping Your Shipping & Receiving Center Running Safely

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shipping receiving safety

While OSHA does not have specific safety regulations for shipping and handling centers, there are many aspects of the safety procedures that apply to these staff. Any employee that is exposed to hazards or risks should be protected to the extent possible on the job site. Consider these employees as you create workplace procedures and protocols.

Some Common Threats

This type of work requires frequent lifting and moving of incoming and outgoing materials. Back and muscle injury is easily incurred.

Use of equipment such as dollies, forklifts or hand trucks are also common. Accidents can occur, particularly with potential injuries to appendages.

Stacked packages or out of reach materials also produce a falling object hazard.

Additionally, tools for cutting, packaging, and strapping materials also create risk to staff in shipping and receiving.

Shipping & Receiving Safety Tips

It may be time to add some additional regulations for you staff in your shipping centers and warehouses.

Here’s a checklist that may be a helpful start point or reference.

  1. Make sure the warehouse area is clean and free of clutter and unnecessary items.
  2. Always use necessary equipment for heavy, large or bulky materials.
  3. When using cutting tools, always cut away from yourself and others and make sure that tools are closed or covered when not in use.
  4. Be careful when stacking or storing materials at height. Ensure the base of the stack is stable by placing heavy items closest to the floor with lighter items on top.
  5. When loading trucks, make the heaviest point of the load forward on the truck axle for stability.
  6. Feel free to take two trips whenever necessary rather than piling a load too high.
  7. When in doubt, ask for help with materials and work with one or more people to get the job done.
  8. Be sure to position materials on shelving in a way that fall hazards are reduced – far enough back from the edge.

These tips are generalized considerations for many shipping & handling centers. However, to ensure the safety and well-being of your staff the manager should conduct a safety audit of your specific workspace. Pay attention to any special considerations and create policies to keep your team safe. For more safety tips like these, view other articles on the ResponsAble blog!

Why Substance Abuse is a Manager’s Problem

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substance abuse

Is substance abuse really a consideration for you as a manager of a professional work environment? Here’s a scary fact you may not have considered… nearly half of all workplace injuries are traced back to substance use. Drug and alcohol abuse on the job is more prevalent than we may think. Or maybe you know, but just haven’t been educated on the implications in your work environment.

Alcohol and drug use is dangerous for a multitude of reasons. Substances inhibit motor skills and cognitive functioning, give a false sense of confidence, impair judgement, decrease efficiency, and negatively effects workplace performance.

As a manager, the cost of substance abuse in your workplace is too high.

So how do you recognize potential substance abuse among your employees?

Common Signs of Employee Substance Abuse

So how do you recognize potential substance abuse among your employees? If you’re not being attentive to the possibility of substance abuse, it can be easy to miss. Don’t make the mistake of assuming you would know if this was an issue among your employees. There are a variety of reasons an individual may engage in substance abuse, and while sometimes it may be obvious, other times it may not be the employee you expect. Here are a few behaviors to take note of and investigate substance abuse if noticed:

  • Consistent or extreme lethargy
  • Frequent breaks or unaccounted for disappearances
  • Erratic behavior or mood swings
  • Inconsistency in hygiene, appearance, or performance
  • Frequent avoidable mistakes
  • Tardiness or failure to show up to work

How to Address Workplace Substance Abuse

Evaluate your culture- alienation and a lack of resources to address emotional life events leads to a higher volume of workplace substance abuse. Offer help to employees and work to create an environment where they know they have resources and support. Some examples could include availability to counseling, team building, supervisor check-ins, bereavement days, etc.

Proper Supervision- A surprising number of staff report that using substances on the job is not as hard as you may think. Increasing supervision is the first line of defense against onsite drinking and drug use.

Safety Training- Use a weekly meeting time to educate employees on the dangers and liability of substance use at work. Make employees aware that you’re serious about safety and teach them about the long-term ramifications of their actions.

Substance Testing- Implement testing at whatever frequency you feel necessary in your workplace. You are within your legal rights to implement these policies in your workplace. Drug and blood alcohol testing are obvious deterrents to use.

Interested in substance use training in your work place? ResponsAble would be happy to come and teach your employees about the dangers and liabilities of workplace use. Call (225) 753-1909 or email us for more information.

Serious About Plant Safety? What About The Office?

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office safety

For most employers, the bulk of safety emphasis goes toward the shop floor, production, manufacturing, etc.  Machines moving products rapidly around human beings just demands our collective prevention attention.  But what about the office? 

We tend to look at the office environment long enough to see everybody’s going home with all their fingers and toes; it’s all good. 

It’s Not All Good; They Slipping, Tripping and Falling All Over the Place

The Center for Disease Control, CDC, reports office workers are up to 2.5 times more likely to suffer an injury from a fall than non-office workers.  What?!?!?

Yep, office workers get lulled into safety complacency just like anyone will when they don’t recognize the hazards.  There are many potential slip, trip and fall hazards in a typical office setting.

  • • Wet or slippery floors
  • • Objects on floors such as open drawers, electrical cords, carpeting, items left in walkways
  • • Poor visibility or lighting
  • • Use of furniture in place of a proper latter to reach elevated items
  • • Unsafe or unstable footwear

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome anyone? 

If your office workers are careful to avoid all those slip, trip and fall hazards, how are they doing with the long hours on the computer? 

Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS, data reveals musculoskeletal disorders, MSD’s, account for over $ 15 billion in worker’s compensation costs annually. 

MSD’s are associated with many of the type of activities common in office work. 

  • • Sitting still for long periods of time
  • • Poor posture for long durations; improper ergonomics
  • • Repetitive small motor movement such as typing
  • • Lack of work breaks

Lifting Not So Heavy Loads

Poor lifting technique can lead to injury even with relatively light loads.  The act of lifting is intrinsically hard on our back, neck and shoulders especially if we use improper form.  Additional risk comes for people who are not physically fit or have prior injuries that may re-occur with even a small strain. 

Common causes of lifting injuries

  • • Lifting something that is too heavy
  • •Not asking for help
  • • Bending from the waste instead of squatting and using legs
  • • Grabbing with finger tips
  • • Twisting while carrying a heavy item

The risk factors described above are by no means an exhaustive list but simply some highlights to raise awareness around office safety.  The injuries and risk associated with the office environment just don’t tend to get our full attention when stacked up next to heavy industrial settings; but it should. 

Put the same Safety, Health and Environmental zeal into protecting your office workers as you do for any employee.  Make sure your training and accountability for the office staff is on par with any other role but match the curriculum and expectations to the office threats. 

Ensuring your office operates safely is right for your employees and right for your business.  If you want a safe plant, you need a safe office.

4 Factors Safety Professionals Apply to International Expansion

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Safety professionals are partners in the company’s corporate leadership so when a company expands beyond their borders, it is these professionals you can trust.

Their expertise and experience are what encourages companies to grow, both locally and internationally. Without safety professionals, the risks of injuries rise, the general productivity of a company decreases, and the diversity in experience and knowledge disappears.

Local, smaller businesses tend strive to employ laborers that are in closer proximity to the business, however when expanding internationally, workers with varying backgrounds in language, culture, and homeland are integrated into the staffing selections. There is value in the advancement that is made with incorporating diversity and in these situations, it is the safety professionals that oversee the development of the employees.

Overall benefit of international expansion:

The opportunity to expand a business drastically increases when companies establish new residences globally. Safety professionals play a significant role in the founding and cultivating of industries both domestic and foreign.

It is a growing trend that companies have operations in several countries, which brings a new collection of challenges. Balancing an atmosphere that is progressive while maintaining a rooted foundation in the companies’ procedures is at the forefront of building a business internationally.

What to expect from the experts:

When establishing new roots in a foreign country, these professionals create a safe, stable environment for a business to grow by leading the decisions about how the business is going to function.

According to Inshpo,  a properly functioning global framework for OHS safety professionals are positioned as:

“Facilitators of a shared understanding of the different roles for the OHS Professional and the OHS Practitioner;

Key advisors, strategist and leader in fully integrating the management of OHS risk into sustainable business practice;

Skilled implementer of OHS activities and an effective OHS supporter and communicator at the site.”

Four factors OHS applies when establishing international production sites:

OHS professional organizations believe in expanding their corporations with educated and ethical standards. Investing time and energy into sites are what safety professionals are experts at, and they use these four factors as an outline on how to properly execute their workforce environment.

Question
Organizations that trust safety professionals to begin a new project know that they will ask the right questions. They are trained to be observant toward their surroundings and ensure a physically safe work environment. As leaders, they make risk evaluations, safety strategy recommendations, and are proactive in preparing the site for production. In an international setting, professionals have keen alertness to the set-up so that the company will reflect the organic structure.

Compare
Contrastingly, safety professionals do not take major risks in organizations that could have the potential to be counterproductive or deadly. They understand the complexity of a productive work environment and know that the best way to create policies and procedures is to model them after what they have learned. They do not put others, themselves, or their company at risk of dangerous physical, ethical, or economic exposure.

Discipline
Safety professionals are team players and they value their role as team captain. These professionals respect authority and do not compromise their decisions based on the relationships to others. In a situation where an employee violates policy, it is the professionals that you can trust to properly discipline the offender.

Educate
Safety professionals curate an atmosphere of safety because they apply their extensive experiences with situational safety and their ongoing education about the topic. You can trust that these professionals will not make irrational decisions but instead investigate the issue and find a well-balanced, effective solution. When placed in an international setting, professionals consider the linguistic and cultural differences. By doing this, the productivity can continue to grow because the site is a dynamic environment for the employees to thrive.

 

The benefits of the roles adopted by safety professionals ensure the quality, accuracy, and overall long-term promotion of safety standards and procedures for the corporation.

If you would like to continue this conversation, we would love to further discuss the different roles that safety professionals play. Our safety professionals are high quality, experienced employees that can add value to your organization. Click here to read more and give us a call at 225-753-1909!