The probability of workplace accidents due to winter can significantly rise when there is heavy snow, rainfall, and ice. Once extreme cold conditions start to prevail, putting safety measures in place might lessen the likelihood of a workplace accident. The straightforward steps listed below may assist reduce workers' compensation claims, which might have an impact on your revenue and help you keep the price of your insurance premium under control going ahead. Regardless of whether the first hurricane has already occurred, it is still not too late to take some easy precautions to safeguard your family, your staff, and your company:
Observe the weather predictions
Consume nutritious foods during work.
Restock First Aid Supplies
Pay Attention to Fall, Trip, and Slip Risks
Stay Covered and Warm
Prevent the flu and colds
Observe the weather predictions
Before heading for work, find out the weather prediction for the day. You can learn about the conditions of the roads and the day's forecasted temperatures. You can better organize your day and be fully prepared for any weather-related issues you could face with the aid of weather forecasts.
Consume nutritious foods during work.
To generate heat, your body needs fuel. Eating carbs can be advantageous since they metabolize to provide energy rather quickly. In moderation, fatty meals may also be helpful. It's usually wise to eat small meals throughout the day as snacks instead of two or three large meals to prevent hunger.
Avoid overeating since it might make you sluggish and make it difficult to perform your tasks. Additionally, it's crucial to be vigilant so you can recognize any cold-related sickness symptoms and take the proper action.
Restock First Aid Supplies
Check all the first aid kits all around the office often, and replenish supplies as necessary. If your employees are frequently outside in the winter, provide them with a few necessities that are useful in the cold but don't take up much space, such as air-activated hand, body, & foot warmers. Also, give them information cards about treating frostbite, hypothermia, and other conditions.
Making the proper workers' compensation claims right away if an employee slips and falls on the job or has cold-related injuries is crucial. We also advise frequent company-wide training on avoiding injuries before they happen because employee accidents can affect productivity and profitability.
Pay Attention to Fall, Trip, and Slip Risks
Winter weather poses the most significant risk to outdoor pathways, ladders, scaffolding, and other surfaces used for walking. These exposed regions accumulate ice and snow, which makes the characters dangerous. Keep snow and ice from getting on surfaces. Some businesses use outside contractors to clear ice and remove snow. However, these external parties usually don't deal with ice and snow on staircases, access points, and higher areas. Your business should schedule regular site inspections. Limit driving through these regions until the ice and snow are removed and look for potential other routes. Coordinate your cleaning efforts with the available corporate resources to ensure the task is completed quickly and securely.
Stay Covered and Warm
If you're planning to work outside in the cold, wearing the proper attire is imperative. If outside labor is essential, dress in winter-appropriate clothing and equipment. Without suitable protection, exposure to subfreezing conditions can result in hypothermia and frostbite. Both conditions are dangerous and potentially deadly, and if not treated or dealt with right away, they can result in lasting harm.
Frostbite:
When skin & limbs are exposed to shallow temperatures for a sustained length of time, a condition known as frostbite develops. In this condition, Blisters, rashes, and patches develop, and the skin begins to freeze. If neglected for a long enough time, frostbite can result in the skin becoming black and the loss of fingers and limbs.
Hypothermia:
When the body's internal temperature falls too low, hypothermia, a physical ailment, occurs. Slurred speech, poor coordination, excessive shivering or trembling, tiredness, and disorientation are all indications of hypothermia.
Prevent the flu and colds
Wintertime immune systems are weakened because of the colder temperature, which increases our risk of getting the flu or the common cold. Additionally, the workplace provides the ideal setting for the spread of colds and the flu since infection-causing bacteria are conveyed by sneezing and coughing in tiny enclosed quarters.
While there are no legal requirements to stop the spread of infectious colds and the flu at work, you are still required to look out for your employee's well-being, and having a sore throat and runny nose may also demoralize their spirits. Your business's total production will also suffer because more employees will use sick days. In actuality, illness absences cost each employee 6.5 missed working days on average in 2014.
By encouraging employees to routinely wash their hands and supplying them with hand sanitizers—which they can carry with them even when they operate outside of a typical office setting—you can help stop the spread of colds and flu in your workplace. Workplace plants may enhance the air quality in workplaces and other confined environments.
Give your staff the option to receive the flu shot if possible. Although colds & flu are common in offices owing to their small size, industrial employees constantly exposed to rain and cold weather circumstances have a significantly increased risk of contracting colds or the flu.
Conclusion
Winter workplace safety is all about being proactive, attentive, cautious, and sensitive. Everyone will be able to return home safely and enjoy the season if you make the extra effort to keep your staff informed about the risks associated with working within wind, ice, snow, and cold.
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