April 28th marks the commemoration of the 2023 World Day for Safety and Health at Work.
While workplace safety is of year-round importance, on this day the focus on safety at work is even more pronounced. This makes April 28th an excellent day to bring up safety topics with your employees. Here are some 2023 World Safety Day topics to consider highlighting to mark the occasion.
The Most Common Workplace Injuries
While each type of company will have different workplace hazards when compared to others, there are workplace injuries that are more common than others. This means that a focus on universal types of injuries that can happen in any type of workplace is going to have the most impact, especially when highlighted on World Safety Day. Some of these most common workplace injuries include the following:
Slips, Trips, and Falls: no matter where you may work, it’s all too possible to slip on a spill, trip over debris, and fall to the ground. This can happen in an office building, a construction site, and anywhere else. Slips, trips, and falls can be easily prevented by ensuring that employees keep worksites free of clutter, clean up spills promptly and completely, and rely on proper safety procedures in situations where there may be a danger of falling from height.
Illness and Hygiene: another universal safety issue, most obviously underlined by the way the coronavirus pandemic disrupted global economies, is taking steps to keep your workforce healthy. Individual employees who are feeling sick need to be told to remain home and not come to work in order to prevent the spread of communicable illnesses like colds and the flu. Additionally, stressing high levels of hygiene through proper hand-washing, the use of hand sanitizer, and even wearing face masks where appropriate, will help keep your workforce healthier and more productive.
Other World Safety Day Topics to Consider
Using World Safety Day to underline a safety topic that’s more specific to your company and its activities is also an excellent option, as this will have a strong impact on the health and safety of those employees that are exposed to these specific risks. However, when selecting topics for discussion, be sure to consider how relevant and timely the topics are when compared to what your employees are doing that day or will be doing shortly.
Topical, timely safety discussions have a much greater impact than those that are dealing with subjects that your employees can’t relate to. If you’re about to begin a project, address the specific safety hazards associated with that project and not another one. If someone recently suffered a workplace injury or even a near-miss because of a specific hazard, address your workforce to reiterate the importance of avoiding that hazard in the future. Keeping safety talks relevant and timely in this manner will help you reap the biggest rewards from 2023 World Safety Day.