5 Ways To Avoid Injury In The Workplace

Thanks to stringent health and safety laws in the UK, in theory your workplace should be a safe place to be. But despite this protection, there are still accidents leading to serious injuries and deaths every year. Most occur because health safety procedures were not followed or because the victim ignored those procedures. Sadly some accidents were as a result of freak events nobody could have predicted, but if you want to avoid becoming another H&S statistic try not to do any of the following whilst at work.

Don't Take Your Cigarette Break during a Lightning Storm

Since it is no longer legal to smoke in the workplace, workers who need to their nicotine fix are obliged to go outdoors. Lots of employers are kind enough to provide shelters where workers can have a cigarette in peace without getting wet if it rains. However, if you don't have access to a suitable shelter, don't head outdoors during a storm. Standing in the middle of the staff car park and lighting up a cigarette makes you a great target for a lightning strike and you might end up smoking for all the wrong reasons.

Don't Try and Extract Toast using a Knife on Your Lunch Break

Some employers are kind enough to provide small appliances such as toasters in the office kitchen. These are great if you happen to miss breakfast. Instead of succumbing to the lure of the snack machine, you can make some toast instead. Just don't be tempted to stick a knife or fork inside the toaster when your toast gets stuck. It won't look good in the accident book when you die from electrocution by toaster.

Don't Stick your Fingers in the Shredder

Shredding documents is one of those deeply boring tasks we all have to do at some point (unless you have an assistant available). Unfortunately, even though large shredders are designed to cope with bigger volumes of paper, they sometimes get stuck. It is also easy to slip into the dead zone when shovelling endless reams of paper into the grating metal jaws of a shredder. But try not to lose concentration or, worse still, attempt to push a stubborn bit of paper through using your fingers. Shredded fingers are messy and your typing skills will suffer as a result.

Don't Staple Any Part of Your Body

Sounds obvious, but you would be amazed how many people suffer nasty accidents as a result of stapler incidents. Staplers sometimes jam or stop working for some unknown reason. If this happens, don't test the device on your arm, particularly if it is a heavy-duty stapler. It is also a bad idea to use your stapler to fix a broken zipper. Imagine how painful it would be if you tried to staple your trousers shut in the event your zipper bust. An open fly is less embarrassing than being admitted to A&E because you stapled your crotch.

Don't Lean into Dangerous Machinery

If you are responsible for a meat grinder, industrial press, or anything else that could potentially kill you, don't ever lean into the machinery if it jams or you could end up ground, pressed or melted. None of these scenarios are good for your health and your employer won't thank you for the resultant H&S investigation.