Refresh your safety awareness

June marks National Safety Month. It gives organizations the opportunity to communicate and increase awareness about the importance of safety and promote an ongoing safety culture.

The National Safety Council (NSC) uses this opportunity to focus on reducing the leading causes of injury and death at work, on the road, and in our homes and communities.

The NSC provides a host of materials to members and nonmembers on its website. The topics for 2022 safety month are:

Week one: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)

MSDs are a leading cause of workplace injury, costing billions of dollars each year in workers’ compensation and lost productivity. These injuries and disorders affect the human body’s movement or musculoskeletal system such as muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, discs and blood vessels. Common names for MSDs are “repetitive motion injury,” “repetitive stress injury,” “overuse injury” and more.

Week two: Workplace impairment

We all know the dangers of substance use on the job. But are you aware of how mental distress, stress and fatigue are also impairing?

The NSC released a survey that shows 90 percent of employers are concerned about mental health and chronic stress affecting fitness for workers. In addition to persistent concerns around legal and illicit substance misuse, many other conditions and behaviors factor into workplace impairment. Think about anything that could impede one’s ability to function normally or safely like prescription medications, alcohol use, fatigue, mental distress and social factors like stress.

You may consider reviewing your company policies, programs and procedures to see how you may need to adjust them to address the causes of workplace impairment.

Week three: Injury prevention

According to the NSC, more than 4 million workplace injuries required medical attention in the U.S. in 2020.

The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) has many resources available to assist propane marketers in obtaining training on a variety of the topics. One of those resources is Propane Personal Safety: Techniques for Injury Prevention in the Propane Industry.

This program can serve as a comprehensive training program for all of your employees. It demonstrates why injury prevention is important and best practices marketers can use to teach and encourage safe work performance. The video illustrates methods to safely perform various jobs and includes interviews with managers, owners and technicians. The program also includes a training manual that enforces the lessons provided in the video, as well as an instructor PowerPoint, quizzes, a field evaluation tool and employee coaching documents.

The program can be accessed online, at no cost, through PERC’s Learning Center at training.propane.com or downloaded at propane.com/resource-catalog.

Week four: Slips, trips and falls

According to the NSC, falls are the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death. Hazard areas in the workplace sometimes go unnoticed as we become complacent. Technology, awareness and education all play a role in identifying the hazards, pinpointing unseen or forgotten hazards and distinguishing them in the workplace.

Additionally, PERC has a set of 45 safety talks, consisting of 10- to 15-minute discussions, designed to help companies create an environment that fosters discussion, identifies potential problems and highlights key concerns to keep employees engaged and actively thinking about safety.

Some of the topics include using personal protective equipment, using and maintaining fire extinguishers, basic fire prevention rules and procedures, personal risk assessment, using good body mechanics, reducing slips and falls, understanding the safety data sheet and many other propane-specific topics. You can purchase the talks on a USB or download them for free on PERC’s resource catalog.

Use these resources to observe National Safety Month in the workplace and in everything you do.

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Randy Warner is the product safety manager for Cavagna North America. He can be reached at randywarner@us.cavagnagroup.com.

NOTE: The opinions and viewpoints expressed herein are solely the author’s and should in no way be interpreted as those of LP Gas magazine or any of its staff members.