Preventing Common Industrial Workplace Injuries

When starting a new business, there are countless hills to climb to even begin basic operations. The process of writing a business plan, obtaining capital, gathering a team, and ultimately bringing your product or service to market takes months, if not years.

With so many boxes to check, it’s easy to understand how certain aspects could be overlooked. Even decades-old businesses can fail to consider a scenario until it happens to them. However, one scenario your business (new or established) should always have a contingency plan for is workplace injuries.

"Every industry is at risk for a workplace injury," said Terri Burns, a retired worker’s compensation nurse who oversaw countless cases of workers that were hurt on the job in her 20+ year career. “On the low end,” Burns told Killarney Metals, “an employer will pay out anywhere in the range of $35,000 - 45,000” for an average workplace injury.

Expenses add up quickly. Medical imaging, diagnosis, surgical procedures, and physical therapy are almost always required for serious injuries. Plus, lawyer’s fees and settlements can be quite costly even for businesses that are equipped with robust worker’s compensation insurance.

Resources and education are readily available for employers, but it’s up to them to put safety measures in place proactively. First, it’s important to understand which workplace injuries are the most likely to happen.

What are the Most Common Workplace Injuries?

A large majority of workplace injuries fall into the slip and fall or trip and fall category. Often caused by unmarked wet floors, poor lighting, or unfamiliar thresholds, slip and fall injuries can happen in a matter of seconds.

Periodically inspecting the walkways and workspaces your employees often use will help you identify potential tripping hazards. When spills do happen, mark them immediately and clean the spill as soon as possible. If you use equipment in your facility that has a constant flow of liquid, or could potentially leak, it’s important to have spill containment solutions in place.

Overuse & Overexertion Injuries

This is a fairly broad category of injuries that include anything caused by excessive stress or strain on the body. Often associated with pushing, pulling, or carrying heavy objects, these types of injuries can often lead to chronic conditions if the proper medical care is not administered early.

Understanding the physical requirements of your employees’ day to day activities is crucial to determine what supplementary equipment they’ll need, or if additional help is required.

Repetitive Use Injuries

Nerves, tendons, and ligaments can be damaged by repetitive motions, even if they aren’t particularly stressful each time they’re performed. The damage and inflammation caused by repetitive use injuries can range from mild discomfort to not being able to perform your job’s basic functions.

Stretching and warming up before performing these tasks can be helpful. Additionally, many employers find that offering several small breaks throughout the day helps prevent these conditions better than one long lunch break would.

Burns & Chemical Handling-Related Injuries

Even minor burns can keep an employee out of work for extended periods. If your business involves the handling of flammable or otherwise dangerous chemicals, you’re probably well-versed in the safety procedures and regulations from various government agencies.

Proper ventilation, material storage and spill containment are crucial when handling these materials. Don’t put your employees at risk by doing the bare minimum to appease regulators!

Vehicle-Related & Auto Accident Injuries

If your business requires the regular use of vehicles, you’ll run the risk that workers will be injured in auto accidents. As an employer, make sure to verify that each worker that will be operating vehicles carries the proper class of licence and certification to do so.

Additionally, your existing auto insurance policy may not cover every vehicle-related injury if it happens while performing work functions. Ensure with your insurance agency that you carry that appropriate levels of both worker’s comp and auto insurance to cover you if an accident does happen.

Putting Solutions in Place to Prevent Injuries

There are two main areas that to focus on when planning to prevent injuries: obtaining the right equipment, and furthering both worker and management training.

Proper on-the-job training is a corner that you simply cannot afford to cut. On average, employers spend $1,111 to train a new team member. Although this number has been trending downward due to more companies taking operations online, workplace safety experts urge HR departments to continuously evaluate employee training methods and improve them as processes change.

It’s important to continue re-educating your verteran team members on any new processes and equipment being used. Prioritizing safety training can end up saving your workers from unnecessary (and often debilitating) injuries.

As important as training is, your employees need the right tools to do their job safely and effectively. Killarney Metals entire line of products is designed to help with that.

Drip and Drain Pans - we manufacture the largest line of heavy-duty metal and rubber drip and drain pans available today. No matter the material, size, or features that you require for a containment pan, we’ve got you covered. Containing spills and redirecting the flow of dangerous liquids is a simple method of preventing slip and fall accidents.

FRP Fiberglass Grating - another must-have for slip prevention in industrial environments is our safety yellow FRP grating. This grating creates a slip-resistant and highly visible surface for work platforms, stairways, catwalks, and more. Our grating pieces are modular and can cover large areas when installed side-by-side.

Spill Containment Platforms - perfect for use under drilling equipment and anything else which dispurses liquid during use, spill containment platforms combine our FRP grating and drip pans into one convenient product. These platforms give your workers a safe place to stand and an easy way to contain liquids and prevent them from entering busy walkways.

Oil Drum Dolly - even when empty, 55 gallon drums are very heavy. Save your worker’s backs by providing them with a no-nonsense, easy-rolling oil drum dolly. Load the drums into the 24 diameter dolly, and transport them using the four swivel casters, each rated to carry 250 pounds each.

Killarney Metals was founded on the principle of helping people. The safety of your workers and business operations requires careful planning and putting the right equipment in place for your unique requirements. Don't go cheap when it comes to protecting your employees!

If you have a specific application that our 200+ stock or made to order products don’t fit, we’re here to help with custom-manufacturing the perfect spill containment solution for you.