Sleep Deprivation Sleep deprivation can significantly affect workplace safety by reducing alertness, concentration, judgment, coordination, and reaction time. Employees who report to work without adequate rest may not recognize how impaired they are, increasing the likelihood of errors, injuries, and vehicle or equipment incidents. Guide for Discussion How Sleep Deprivation Affects Safety Insufficient sleep...

Personal Ergonomics – Preventing Musculoskeletal Injuries Personal ergonomics means fitting the job, tools, equipment, and work environment to the worker. Good ergonomics can reduce physical stress on muscles, tendons, nerves, joints, and other parts of the body and help prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Ergonomic hazards can affect anyone—from office employees to construction...

Safe Housekeeping - Preventing Workplace Hazards Safe housekeeping is an essential part of preventing workplace injuries. A clean, orderly work area reduces slip, trip, and fall hazards, improves access to tools and equipment, helps prevent fires, and allows employees to work more safely and efficiently. Housekeeping is not something that should be...

Personal Protective Equipment – Work Like a Professional Professional athletes would never consider entering a game without the protective equipment required for the hazards they face. Helmets, pads, guards, and specialized footwear may sometimes feel uncomfortable, but they can reduce the severity of an injury when something goes wrong. The same principle...

Conveyor Safety Conveyors reduce manual material handling and can help prevent lifting and carrying injuries while improving productivity. However, their smooth and continuous operation can create a false sense of security. Moving belts, rollers, pulleys, chains, and loads can cause serious caught-in, caught-between, entanglement, and struck-by injuries. General Conveyor Safety Conveyors come in...

Care for Your Half-Mask Air-Purifying Respirator Personal Protection A half-mask air-purifying respirator (APR) can protect you from certain airborne contaminants only when the respirator and cartridges or filters are properly selected for the hazard, correctly fitted, maintained, and used as required. Before using a respirator, employees must be medically evaluated, trained, and fit...

Avoid Improper Drum Handling Drums and barrels can be extremely heavy and difficult to control. Improper handling can result in back and muscle strains, crushed hands or feet, caught-between injuries, and exposure to hazardous materials if a container is damaged or leaking. Whenever possible, use mechanical material-handling equipment rather than manually moving...