Leave The Chainsaw In His Neck

Did you see the CNN story about a man with a chainsaw in his neck?  While a lot of luck was involved in his good fortune, his fellow employees get some credit.  They removed the motor and left the blade in his neck, which kept the bleeding to a minimum until he was transported to the hospital.

I know a company here in Indiana that had a traumatic injury where the employee had his arm caught in a machine.  In that case, the other employees left him trapped until the EMT arrived.  The machine acted like a tourniquet on the trapped arm preventing blood loss while waiting for the medical professionals to arrive.

In both of these cases the decision of the fellow employees played a vital role in the immediate medical care of the injured employee.  Would that be the case at your workplace?  In a recent post we talked about the hidden costs of injury, specifically the distraction of fellow employees.  In the immediate aftermath of an injury, we need that distraction in the form of first aid.

Every company, including an office (read my office injury post) needs to have employees trained as first responders.  I have been through CPR training, and while it is a good course and important training to have, it doesn't completely prepare me to respond.  A committee should be formed to review possible injuries and how immediate responders should react.

Unfortunately, some of the more severe claims need to be considered.  While they are less likely, the impact on both cost and the severity of the health impact to the employee make it worth the time to review the "what ifs" of those claims.

If your safety committee is only looking at past accidents and asking how to prevent them, shift their focus to possible accidents and preparing for the unfortunate day they do happen.

Most Common Office (or non office) Injuries

SECURA did a nice blog post about the most common office injuries.  If we look at the major headings for the three areas, Trips & Fall, Overexertion, and Struck By Object, I would think it is safe to say that those categories apply to all industries.

I have been in insurance for 20 years, with most of that time having a focus on workers' compensation.  I have reviewed thousands of loss runs, and would tell you that the scariest occupations and most dangerous situations don't result in the majority of injuries.

I think there is some rationale as to why that is true.  If I am doing something I deem to be dangerous, I have a heightened sense of awareness.  The fight or flight instinct tells us that if we are working around a moving saw, or working at heights, or near extreme heat, we need to be careful.  As soon as we relax and walk away our brain goes into a rest mode, and we trip over something.

When the truly risk exposures do end up causing injury, it is when the worker has become accustomed to the risk, and let's their guard down.  As much as we worry about inexperienced operators, more often it is the worker who has been doing the job longer who gets careless.  Again, the instincts in the newer worker are helping him even though he has less experience with the task.

So how do we keep employees safe?  How can we keep them at a heightened sense of awareness?  As silly as it seems, safety posters could do a lot to promote vigilance.  If you meet with your staff every day, add a line to the agenda talking about stretching before lifting, or encouraging taking time to clean their work area to avoid accidents.  The injuries aren't caused by big things, and it won't take a big effort to raise awareness.

Specifically on lifting, nursing homes aren't the only place that need a formal lifting program.  If you haven't already done so, a document should be prepared, distributed, and posted with a formal plan.  The plan should identify what items specifically, or by weight, can be lifted alone, in tandem, or only with mechanical assistance.

Take some time to rethink employee safety, and find easy ways to emphasize that their safety is important.  Hopefully that will help avoid injuries that are costly, but preventable.