Thursday, February 9, 2017

MA Workers’ Comp: Stay Safe by Avoiding Common Work Accidents



Staying safe at work is something that many folks don’t really think about too often until they find themselves or a co-worker in a painful situation. In this guide, we’re going to talk about some of the active steps that you can take to ensure that you’re equipped to stay as safe as possible at work and not find yourself in a workplace related accident! 

                Workplace accidents aren’t always having a ladder fall on your head, crashing your hi-lo into something, or anything else that we might initially think of when we think of workplace related incidents. Oftentimes, it can be something smaller. Workplace injuries also consist of occurrences such as lack of or perhaps even the wrong kind of education on how to operate machinery in the correct way. Workplace accidents can also include miseducation about how to lift items or bend down in a repetitive motion in an ergonomic way to keep you from sustaining back, arm, or leg injuries such as sprains, fractures, slipped disks, and the like.Therefore, if a long period of time passes and you’re bending and lifting improperly, you can end up injuring yourself without an object even collapsing on you or hitting you. While sprains and twists and minor back pain do not sound too terrible initially, they can really add up over years of time and really can end up leaving someone disabled permanently if not taken care of properly. Therefore, it is much better to eliminate the risk of those occurrences altogether. 

                Here are a couple of things that you can do to ensure that you stay safe and avoid common work accidents:

1.) If upon beginning a job you find that you aren’t presented with an instructional guide on how to properly bend and lift, you should ask for one.

                This is also something that goes for even simply asking. That way, you can ensure that you’re entirely educated on what exactly to do physically for the specific job in which you are performing.

2.) Never forget your safety equipment

It’s obvious that safety glasses, certain types of protective head gear, gloves, or aprons might not be the most fashionable and might even make us feel downright silly, but they are imperative to your workplace safety. The most known type of protective safety equipment that workers wear are safety glasses. Even if you already wear eyeglasses, ask for the plastic siding pieces that can protect the rest of your eye area that your glasses cannot cover. Chain mail gloves are another important piece of safety equipment that many workers wear and while they might feel sort of heavy, they are also very important. Lastly in this bullet point, you want to be sure that any and all equipment that you wear fits properly. Just because you are wearing safety glasses does not ensure that you will stay safe if they are fitting too tight or loose. 

3.) Read all instructions and safety precautions on any piece of work machinery or tool very thoroughly

One of the most important things that any worker wants to do. Yes you must even read all of the fine print on each of the machines or pieces of equipment that you use to be able to perform your job. You might be surprised at what you find! This gives you precautions about certain temperatures, conditions, and even might inform you about how to safely get through the almost inevitable instance that your machine or piece of equipment breaks down or malfunctions. It may seem like a tedious task now, but your body will thank you after it is kept safe day after day at work. 

4.) Always take breaks as often as you are allowed to.

Our federal government mandates that at least one thirty minute break is taken in an eight hour shift. However, if you find that you are in quite a bit of pain, do not strain yourself. Strain can lead to more serious injuries down the road. Instead, ask your supervisor if you would be able to rest for a moment or two before proceeding with your work day. Chances are, he or she will be happy to oblige.

Contact us to know more about MA workers compensation.

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