The holiday season is full of family, food and festivities. For many it’s also a period of reading and reflection. If you’re looking to spend the last few days of 2015 catching up on the safety articles you didn’t have time to read during the year, then you’re in luck.
We’ve compiled a reading list of the best articles by SafeStart’s experts. From global safety implementations to dealing with workers who think they’re bulletproof, these articles have it all.
If you’re looking for even more reading then check out our most popular news posts of 2015. You can also follow SafeStart on LinkedIn to keep up with all the latest safety content in 2016. In the meantime, here’s the best from the past year.
4 Best Practices for Global Safety Implementations
Few people know global safety better than Kelley Norris—she’s been working with international safety consultants for the last 17 years. This article provides her insights into how to implement a new safety initiative at a company with multiple sites in different countries. It’s a challenging task, but Kelley outlines several key factors for success.
All Hands on Deck
This article is a must-read if your safety training is stuck in the classroom. Tim Page-Bottorff, CSP outlines why it’s so important to provide hands-on safety training as a complement to traditional lecture-style instruction. Tim also outlines practical ways to start teaching on the shop floor.
Complacency Deserves a Place on OSHA’s Top 10 and Giving Safety a Common Language
Safety Decisions, the safety industry’s newest publication, featured two columns by Ray Prest. The first discusses an always-popular topic—OSHA’s annual list of the 10 most common safety violations—and points to why zooming in on rules violations might mean we’re failing to see the bigger picture. Ray’s most recent article argues that the safety industry could learn an unexpected lesson from the recent adoption of GHS, and that companies would do well to develop a common safety language.
5 Ways to Beat Back Pain
Back pain and strain is one of the most prevalent categories of injuries. This article by Andrew Faulkner outlines five different ways safety professionals can begin taking steps to protect workers’ backs. If you read the article and want to learn more about addressing back injuries in the workplace then download our free guide on workplace back injuries.
Ten Feet Tall and Falling
Too many workers think they’re bulletproof and know everything there is to know about safety. As Cheri Genereaux points out, this can lead to a lot of injuries from unexpected sources. “Ten Feet Tall and Falling” discusses how it’s possible to get even the most stubborn workers to pay attention to the small hazards that are most likely to get them hurt.
The Other Side of the Coin
Safety professionals should spend more time considering the financial side of safety. Danny Smith argues that safety reduces workers’ compensation costs and improves quality, which directly improves the bottom line. This article is a must-read for anyone looking to make a stronger case for their safety budget, or for people interested in understanding safety’s contribution to a financially healthy company.
Bonus Guides
We were busy in 2015. In addition to producing articles, we also followed up our guide on PPE compliance with two more guides on how human factors affect important compliance issues: back injuries and slips, trips and falls.
Solving Slips, Trips and Falls Once and For All
54% of slip, trip and fall incidents are caused by employee distraction. This guide outlines the major physical and human factors involved in slips, trips and falls and provides practical solutions to address this problem.
Re-thinking Back Injuries
How do you protect against back pain? It requires a lot more than 15 minutes of instruction on safe lifting techniques. Deal with the root cause of this chronic issue and apply a few techniques that will strengthen your back safety efforts.