Safety Around the Clock

Are you safer at work or at home?  Over the past several months, Safelink consultants have been asking employees this question at our workshops.  Overwhelmingly, employees believe they are safer at home than at work.  The fact is the National Safety Council research shows that 9 out of 10 fatalities and nearly two-thirds of disabling injuries to workers each year occur off the job. 

The 2005-2006 “Injury Facts” published by the National Safety Council estimated 62,100 fatalities occurred in the home and community in 2004 - 56% of all recorded injury-related deaths.  Disabilities at home/community topped 17.2 million in 2004.  The National Safety Council estimates that on and off the job employee injuries cost U.S. businesses $330 billion in 2004.  $200 billion of that amount was related to off-the-job injuries.

The top five causes of unintentional home injury by cost are falls, struck by/against, poisoning, cut/pierce, and overexertion.  Of these, falls account for 41.2% of all nonfatal unintentional home injuries according to the Home Safety Council.   The five leading causes of fatal injury are falls, poisoning, choking, drowning, and fire.  Smoke inhalation accounts for a majority of deaths in home fires.

Consider expanding the traditional OSHA compliance and accident prevention with health and productivity management.  An Atlanta-based company that operates more than 20 manufacturing plants worldwide has found that their emphasis on off-the-job safety is reinforcing on-the-job safety habits.  This company also reported a significant decline in its health care utilization rates, plus absenteeism rates are down and productivity is up.

Information on home/community safety can be provided to employees in newsletters, tip sheets, paycheck stuffers, e-mail alerts, health and wellness fairs or luncheons.  Invite the local police and fire officials into your lab to provide personal safety and security and fire prevention information.

With warm weather here and more people working in their yard, you may want to help workers purchase personal protective equipment such as goggles, hearing protection and reinforced shoes to use when doing yard work and housework at home on the weekends.  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that more than 71,000 consumers went to hospital emergency rooms because of injuries relating to push mowers in 2003 and nearly another 39,000 were treated for injuries related to garden tools and supplies.  If you have a health insurance plan for your workers, your health insurance is paying for these types of injuries so it affects your health insurance premiums.

Visit the Home Safety Council website at www.homesafetycouncil.org for information to share with your employees regarding off-the-job safety.  Take a proactive approach to safety around the clock.

Do you have a question for Mary Borg? E-mail jdt@nadl.org.

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