The lives of workers and the productivity of a factory are at risk due to improper management of ergonomic hazards.
The hazards we are talking about include;
- Harsh climatic scenarios
- Excessive vibration due to heavy machinery
- Improper lighting affects visibility
- Poor worker posture
- Repetitive and forceful motions
- Stationary positions
These hazards are also the triggers behind musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). As per ErgoPlus, the total cost to treat the uncertain ratio of MSDs is around $20 billion.
Whereas a ratio of 400,000 injuries per year gets reported caused by material or heavy equipment fall-offs. However, the indirect cost to this cause is 5x than the quoted one.
Factories and contractors need to strategize in the minimization of equipment failure incidents. However, we can not extract labor out of the material handling process but the environment can be made safer.
Mentioned below are the main preventive measures to reduce material falls from heavy machinery;
Task-Specific Heavy Machinery
The process of handling material demands labor and time. So it is a physically exhausting task for laborers onsite.
But if you have installed task-specific heavy machinery with the right attachment then you can reduce the risk of falls to a noticeable extent.
Contractors can prevent forceful conduction by integrating suitable heavy machinery for heavy material loading and lifting.
Buying automated vehicles, maintained used forklifts for sale and conveyor belts can ease the task by reducing health hazards. Parallely, suitable heavy construction equipment will help you complete the operations on time.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
If you want to reduce material falls you need to equip laborers with safety gadgets. Such safety gadgets are called personal protective equipment that is designed for safe usage of heavy construction equipment.
What comes under PPE are as follows;
- Helmets
- Eye protection glasses
- Safety boots
- Earplugs
- Respirators
- Plastic fiber guards or metal guards
It’s highly necessary to invest in PPE for creating and maintaining a safe workplace.
Any heavy machinery company is responsible for making PPE that is reliable and well-designed.
Additionally, comfort should be the top priority factor so that workers can easily wear it. The main purpose of personal protective equipment is to create a safe work environment and that must be met.
However, you need to make sure that all the laborers onsite are adhering to the rule of wearing PPE. but we have also seen cases where despite having PPE workers they lack in wearing it.
So what should you do as a manager if you see such a situation?
You need to communicate and let the laborers understand why and how PPE is necessary for their safety. And how not wearing PPE can put their lives at risk.
Workplace Layout
What’s the workplace layout? How to design a workplace layout? Well, workplace layout defines the positioning of labor, heavy machinery, and workflow lines.
Therefore, you can estimate a poorly designed workplace layout can result in wasting human, material, and other resources. In addition, it can lead to a hazardous place.
So if you want to secure your workplace you need to put some extra brains into designing the workplace layout. Let’s make it easy for you to what you should add to a good workplace layout;
- Designing as per the main purpose of the area
- The right selection of construction material
- Installing heavy machinery
- Allocating standards and codes that need compliance in different spots
Additionally, each operational site must comply with the global and state-level ergonomics laws as per the tasks.
Training
As per the Safety Association For Employers, 1 out of 19 small to medium-sized factories have reported that employees don’t take safety regulations seriously.
By the same token, 17% of the labor class doesn’t receive safety training to deal with uncertain onsite operations.
However, the main purpose of a safety awareness campaign is not just boosting workplace safety but enduring injuries too. Safety training helps workers with the needful training regarding;
- maintaining workplace safety
- utilization of PPE
- conduction of safety audits
- tactics to tackle uncertain conditions.
In construction jobs, lifting heavy material via heavy construction equipment is common. Therefore, training employees about smart machinery usage is a must.
Summary
All the abovementioned ergonomic tips can be fruitful for your company in terms of improving safety and labor skills.
You can prevent injuries, complete projects on time, reduce heavy construction equipment’s downtime and minimize labor turnover.
Your efforts toward creating a safe environment will boost the morale of your employees. As a result, you can see visible positive outcomes in terms of increased productivity and business revenue
