Importance of workplace equipment safety

Whatever type of company you manage, making sure your employees are safe is always a top priority. Safety programs in the workplace protect employees from harm on the job. Better mental health and decreased fear and stress are additional benefits of a secure workplace.

An obvious benefit for any company, this will inevitably boost morale and output in the workplace, which will have a direct and beneficial effect on profits. No problems occurred during the workday, so employees could safely return home to their families.

Yet, for this to occur, it is the responsibility of employers to provide a safe working environment, including providing adequate measures for equipment safety.

Understanding Workplace SafetyEquipment

Companies who care about their workers will outfit them with the necessary safety gear. By reducing the likelihood of workplace injuries, both employees and employers can avoid financial hardship.

By definition, therefore, safety equipment is those tools and gadgets used to protect workers against injuries, illness, or infections. They are also known as safety protective equipment.

Workplace safety equipment might include PPE, safer tools, and detection devices for workers exposed to workplace hazardous substances.

Types of workplace safety equipment

Depending on the nature of the task and the work environment, a single worker may require a wide variety of tools and equipment. For instance, we may have:

Personal protective equipment (PPE)

Some examples of PPE that can help mitigate workplace hazards include:

Head protection tools:Hard hats and other forms of head protection are required in many industries because of the danger posed by falling tools, machinery, and other materials.

Some hard hats have installed supplementary protection, including ear muffs or face shields, whereas others require additional accessories to be fully functional. Ensure the hard hat you choose for work fits your head tightly.

Face and eye protection equipment: Workers, especially those working with metals, wood, and high temperatures, should consider eye protective gear.

Wearing safety goggles or face shields reduces the risk of debris or other hazards entering your eyes while at work. A welding helmet with a safety shield or welding goggles is preferable while working with bright lights like infrared radiation.

Hearing protection equipment: Workers working in low or high-frequency sounds must ensure they wear earplugs to safeguard their ears. Consider wearing earmuffs if you work at high-frequency sounds while taking earplugs to help block the low-frequency sounds.

Image alt text: workplace equipment safety. Hearing protection device.

Author credit:By Roadside Guitars – Hearing ProtectionUploaded by Partyzan_XXI, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8440518

Skin and hand protection equipment: Since most tasks on a construction site must be conducted by hand; gloves are often a necessary safety precaution. Wearing gloves at work can protect you against cuts, scrapes, and punctures, as well as from electrical shocks, high temperatures, and slippery items.

Respiratory equipment: When working in an environment where harmful compounds are present, it is essential to wear the appropriate respiratory protection, such as a mask, to maintain your lungs in excellent functioning condition. Protecting yourself from toxic fumes, dust, and other airborne hazards requires using specialized equipment called respirators.

Safety shoes and clothing: Shoes designed for safety can range from essential to highly specialized. Steel-toed shoes are required for industrial employees to protect their feet from hazards. Workers in environments where slipping is common should invest in slip-resistant soles for their footwear.

Apart from safety equipment, you may also have the following tools at your disposal, depending on the nature of your workplace:

Wood working tools and equipment

These may include:

  • Hand and power saws are used for cutting. (jigsaw, circular saw, compounded miter saw)
  • Hand planning, filing, and sanding materials for attractive wood finishing (Planes, orbital sander)
  • Assembly tools including hammer, mallet, hand or power drill, and screw gun

Workplace Power Equipment

Workplaces that involve power operations may need various tools and equipment, including a power cutoff, saw, chain saw, batteries, power cables, extension cords, bench, and portable grinders, among other devices.

Each workplace activity necessitates its unique set of precautions, and it’s up to every workplace to design and build them.

 

The Proper Way to Compile an Occupational Safety Equipment List

More than 15,300 industrial workers were injured in 2019 due to lacerations, punctures, or cuts.To ensure the safety of workers, it is essential to compile a list of the necessary safety equipment.

However, it must be thorough enough to provide your personnel with all they need to ensure their safety. Personnel exposed to machinery, cutting instruments, and large objects without proper safety gear could be seriously injured.

Consequently, here are some things to keep in mind while you make a list of the safety tools you’ll need in the workplace:

Your employees’ comfort

It’s possible that your staff already has access to all the personal protective equipment (PPE) they’ll require.

Protecting oneself from hazards like cuts, flash burns, loud noises, and heavy items is a top priority, and the examples of PPE above provide just that. However, it’s easy to forget workers’ comfort while selecting equipment.

Although money and supplies may be more pressing concerns, it’s important to remember that PPE needs to be a good fit for workers to be effective. Besides, workers are at a higher risk of injury when they don’t wear protective gear such as gloves, goggles, and helmets that fit correctly.

Therefore, when deciding on safety equipment, it’s also essential to consider how different PPE pieces could interact with one another.

Involve workers to help identify equipment safety gaps

Even if you’re only required to provide basic PPE, you can miss out on possibilities to provide even more extensive protection for your employees if you don’t get their input.

Watch employees while they carry out various processes (such as welding or sawing wood). This would help you pick up on details about their work that you may have missed. For instance, they may experience discomfort from improper glove fit when using particular tools or machinery for an extended time.

Another option is to use a face shield instead of standard safety glasses so that workers don’t have to constantly halt the cutting process to clear their eyes of sawdust. That may also lessen the possibility of distractions while working with equipment, which may result in accidents.

Therefore, it is essential to get input from employees to create a list of industrial safety equipment that is both comprehensive and effective: an index that reflects their needs and goals.

Consequences of improper tool or equipment management system

Better tools can be achieved through several measures, including workers identifying and considering comfort in selecting equipment safety measures.

However, companies face several risks, especially when using unkept tools and equipment. Some of the consequences include:

Poor productivity

Companies’ success depends on completing tasks on time and accurately regardless of the sector. Timeliness and productivity can be jeopardized by sloppy tool management. When a tool or piece of machinery gets misplaced, it slows down production and wastes the time of both management and employees while they try to track it down and replace it.

Risky Work Environments

The absence of necessary equipment might threaten workers and should be avoided at all costs. Without the correct equipment management system, it is clear how quickly safety may be compromised, from employees stumbling over tools that were not returned correctly to tools breaking or malfunctioning while in use.

Results in Misuse of Funds

Without a sound equipment management system, companies risk losing or misplacing tools, especially those not correctly stored. Plus, workers would take a lot of time searching for the right tools, which might significantly damage when looking for emergency response tools.

So, to avoid compensating employees for unproductive downtime caused by a lack of necessary equipment, keeping all the required items in a central location is helpful.

Hinders the organization’s growth potential

As a construction company expands and takes on additional projects in different places, the management of tools and equipment gets increasingly complicated.

A company’s potential to expand is severely hampered by inefficient equipment management, especially if it becomes too challenging or impossible to manage a high volume of simultaneous tasks.

In other words, improper tool control makes it challenging to implement a remote management system for the stock of tools and equipment at numerous sites.

Damages Company’s Reputation

The truth is, employees, feel frustrated when they can’t get the necessary equipment to manage their various situations, which kills their morale, especially when they can’t control their tasks on time.

In addition to costing you customers and employees’ respect, unscheduled maintenance of equipment can slow down projects and lead to errors.

Therefore, to manage these consequences, you need well-kept, stored, and long-lasting equipment that is always available.

Basic rules of maintaining your machines and equipment

It’s convenient to let machinery take care of itself, toss it out, and get new stuff whenever it breaks or wears out. However, workers don’t like using worn-out machinery, so it’s in everyone’s best interest to do routine maintenance and invest time in it.

Image alt text: workplace equipment safety. A medical personnel wearing safety equipment for hospital fumigation.

Author credit: By AlexChirkin – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53058821

If you want your tools to survive as long as possible, follow these recommended safety procedures when operating machinery.

Familiarize Yourself with the Instruction Manual

While you might have extensive knowledge of certain tools and how others use them, you must also admit there are different specifications and various manufacturers’ advice. So, never assume you know, but better read and understand the manuals.

Recognize the right tools for the job and how to employ them

Make sure you and any other users are familiar with the equipment’s purpose and operation before using it. If at all possible, conduct a dry run.

The device’s age predicted lifespan, warranty details, and any documented flaws and remedies should all be known to you. This way, you’ll learn how to utilize it properly to extend its life and keep everyone safe, as well as what to expect from it and how to react if it falls short.

Keep up with a Routine Inspection Schedule

A routine examination of the apparatus confers several advantages to the worker and the employer.

Besides, inconsistencies and problems with equipment that can go undetected in regular use might be revealed by conducting thorough inspections regularly. Once the problem is identified, it can be fixed or replaced before it causes more harm to the machine or poses a safety risk to its users.

It may be necessary to have a licensed engineer perform regular inspections, depending on the type of machinery. Your supplier or manufacturer may probably give you some pointers on how frequently you should conduct these checks and how to organize them.

Make Repairs or Substitute Parts as Necessary

An adequate inspection would reveal which pieces of machinery are damaged beyond repair. In addition, the smaller components of frequently used tools wear out over time and require replacement to ensure peak performance. Changing them out as soon as you see the damage can save you from having to replace more expensive components. Keep a modest supply of frequently used parts to avoid unplanned downtime.

 

After Each Use, Clean It Up

Equipment used with any industry or other messy materials should be cleaned thoroughly after use to avoid the buildup of debris that can lead to malfunctions or even complete inability to operate.

In the case of the healthcare sector, sharp or piercing equipment is cleaned and sterilized to prevent exposure to deadly pathogens.

Ensure Proper Storage

Proper storage is essential for maintaining construction equipment, particularly smaller tools that are more likely to go missing or be destroyed on a busy job site. Most durable tools and gear are built to survive the elements and other extreme conditions, but they will last much longer if they are regularly maintained and kept in a clean, dry, and well-lit area.

Adequate storage serves two primary functions:

Easier accessibility: If your tools are organized, you can quickly locate the one you need when you need it. It’s less of a hassle not to have to rummage around your store in search of a particular one. People have given up on their endeavors because they cannot find the tools they need when they need them.

Proper equipment safety: You can extend your tools’ life by correctly putting them away. Tools that are properly stored are less likely to deteriorate from exposure to elements like dust, grease, and rust.

Taking good care of your tools will ensure they continue serving you well for as long as possible. If you take care of your tools, you won’t have to buy new ones often, which is an excellent financial perk.

Buy quality equipment

While purchasing new machinery is a significant financial commitment, many companies put profit before quality because of tight budgets. It’s possible that if the devices aren’t functioning correctly, it might lead to accidents that endanger people’s lives and cost a lot of money.

Therefore, you should investigate your options before purchasing faulty or low-quality equipment and hunt for a more suitable solution. Not only would sloppiness or poor quality be detrimental to the property, but it will also delay the project and cost money.

Get the Most Secure Equipment as Possible

The health and happiness of your employees should be a top priority. Try to find equipment in a comfortable shape. Because of this, your body will have less wear and tear and fewer chances of getting repetitive strain injuries. Be sure the handle is comfortable to hold; this will lessen the likelihood of dropping it.

Ensure the instrument is correctly weighted for ease of handling, among other design aspects.

Keep the user’s safety in mind when deciding on a cutting instrument. Is there a protective cap I can put on it? If so, can you pull the handle in? Think about using blunt-proof blades, too.

What is the importance of equipment safety?

High-risk fields, including healthcare, construction, and building maintenance, necessitate the use of robust safety measures.

It is the responsibility of every business owner and management to provide a safe working environment for themselves and their employees.

And these are some of the reasons why they must consider equipment safety:

Safeguard your health/wellbeing

Protecting your health and the health of your employees is the primary reason suitable safety equipment should always be present on the job site.

That’s how straightforward it is.

You and your employees can benefit significantly from safety gear intended to prevent injuries and lessen the severity of any damage on the job. Besides, you’re putting yourself and your employees’ lives in harm’s way by not wearing the proper safety gear.

Increases moral and output/productivity

Safety experts often repeat that “a healthy or safe workforce is an efficient workplace.” Successful safety and health programs have a multiplicative effect on output.

Research has demonstrated that when a company prioritizes safety first, everyone in the workplace benefits. Besides, companies can achieve a decreased cost when they train and audit safety measures to reduce human error that leads to accidents.

Workers are more inclined to accept responsibility for their actions and show dedication to the company when they have assured their safety while on the job. Employee engagement increases workplace safety and efficiency, and research shows that happy workers are more productive overall.

Reduced cost and less downtime

Workers dealing with illness or injury on the job should be given appropriate time off. It’s not uncommon for businesses to foot the bill for employees’ healthcare costs, damages, and missed time off and offer them compensation and sometimes even special training.

Expenses from all of these sources may amount to a substantial sum. Reducing workplace injuries and illnesses requires identifying and eliminating any potential dangers. When employees are protected from harm, they won’t require as much time off to recover, and you won’t have to hurry to find insurance.

Enhance both the company’s reputation and its brand as an employer

Employers that do not invest in workplace equipment safety quickly establish the image of being a dangerous or toxic company, which significantly influences those companies’ efforts to promote themselves as desirable workplaces and recruit qualified employees. In addition, consumers, competitors, and even the broader public frequently assume that such businesses are unprofessional.

As a direct result, fewer potential workers apply for positions, and those with the highest levels of expertise frequently look for work elsewhere.

Conclusion

Company managers have an absolute duty to ensure that their staff is always working in a safe workplace. They are responsible for maintaining an environment where workers feel encouraged and supported and are not fearing for their lives.

Therefore, it is the responsibility of employers to provide workers with properly functioning and maintained tools and equipment. Furthermore, companies must provide sufficient equipment training to guarantee that workers are prepared to handle various machinery. Because of this, additional harm is prevented.