Let's Be Careful Out There!

By Brad Brettschneider, Hinda Business Development Director

No one woke up this morning planning on getting hurt at work today. Yet, according to the National Safety Council, each day about 12,000 U.S. workers are injured on the job. That’s an injury every seven seconds. Worse yet, 35 people each day will never go home again. They will be killed on the job or die from their injuries.

In 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported some 2.6 million Americans suffered non-fatal injuries on the job. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) says over 5,400 U.S. workers were killed on the job that year. The human cost of an on-the-job injury is significant and includes pain, suffering, and long-term consequences. In addition to the physical and psychological impact, workplace injuries can also lead to mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress syndrome.

The financial costs of these injuries and deaths are also staggering, at $11.5 billion annually. That includes both direct costs like medical expenses and lost wages, as well as indirect costs like productivity losses and legal fees. These enormous numbers of injuries, deaths and costs should give us pause. An even more shocking number for your consideration –

99%
of on-the-job accidents are preventable.

That’s according to EHS Today, the country’s leading environmental, health and safety publication. The key to preventing accidents is to keep safety top-of-mind for employees.

When people think to lift with their legs and not their back, overexertion injuries drop. When employees remember to wear their safety glasses, fewer people lose their eyesight. And simply reporting and cleaning up wet and icy conditions can save thousands of slips and falls in the workplace each day. Awareness is critical to safety.

Organizations work hard to create a safety culture. They spend money on equipment, dedicate hours of training to working safely and create safety committees to gain employee insights. Adding a recognition element can keep safety top-of-mind with employees by rewarding their active participation in existing safety measures. Hinda’s newest safety recognition tool gets to the grassroots. It allows your people to report eligible safety activities, like safety committee participation and offering ideas to improve safety that earn points with manager approval. This reinforces your existing safety culture while engaging employees regularly.

Remember 99% of all incidents are preventable. That means awareness is key. It also means you must always be looking for ways to keep safety top-of-mind for your people.