As a division of an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor, the he Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides safety guidelines and regulations. With the importance of worker safety at the forefront, OSHA plays an important role in making sure that companies are help accountable for the safety of their workers. With very specific guidelines for using riggings, ladders, and various kinds of scaffoldings, OSHA guidelines require companies to make sure that workers are well trained. Understanding how to safely use a ladder, for instance, can help a worker understand which ladder to use for a specific task.
Understanding the way that workers need to be trained to make sure that there are no safety problems helps companies protect their workers and their equipment. From permeation resistant clothing to chemical protective garments to the proper kinds of eye and face protection, understanding what workers should wear to stay safe at work can help you protect a company’s most valuable asset: workers.
Consider some of these facts and figures about the work place safety and health programs that many companies put in place when they follow OSHA guidelines and regulations:
- Nearly a third of the nation’s gross domestic product, U.S. factories created $5.3 trillion worth of goods in the year 2016. This is more than any other sector, and all of this production work depends on the safety of all of the workers in this segment.
- Private industry employers in the U.S. reported approximately 2.9 million nonfatal workplace illnesses and injuries in the year 2015.
- An estimated 20 million workers use personal protective equipment (PPE) on a regular basis to protect them from job hazards, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
- Permeation is a process by which a chemical passes through a protective film, one example is a glove. Breakthrough time and rate are the two values that are reported in permeation data.
- In lost production time, medical expenses, and worker compensation, eye injuries cost U.S. companies more than $300 million a year.
- 2.6 million Americans are employed by the oil and natural gas industry.
How safe are your employees when they are on the job? Company owners who make paying attention to making sure that all managers, shift supervisors, and employees are well trained can rest assured that they are doing everything they can to make sure that every employee is as safe as possible.