Employers have a duty to correct hazards on the job site before a deadly accident happens.
This month, Illinois’ nationally known National Safety Council is sponsoring its annual safety campaign spotlighting safety on the job, with June 2019 being National Safety Month. Four topics will be covered, one for each week of the month: Hazard Recognition; Slips, Trips, and Falls; Fatigue; and Impairment.
On June 21, 2019, the NSC will offer a free webinar for employers (and others interested in the topic), entitled “Why Preventable Deaths Are on the Rise” (go to the link for free registration).
Employers are responsible for providing a safe work site for workers, but statistics show all too often, employees are left facing great risks of being severely injured while on the job. For more, read our discussion in: Worker Fatalities: What are the Most Dangerous Jobs in 2019?
In fact, preventable workplace deaths have jumped 18% in the past nine years, while hours worked have risen a comparative 6%. Every seven seconds, an American worker is hurt on the job.
Hazard Recognition
This week, the first week of June, the NSC targets one of the most important aspects of workplace dangers: common workplace hazards that put workers at risk of injury. Hazards are invitations for serious or fatal accidents, both on and off the job.
Consider how obvious these hazards must be to employers, supervisors, and managers, and yet they remain a serious threat to workers for serious bodily injury or death:
- Bad lighting
Workers must be able to see their surroundings while on the job. The simple problem of a dark or badly lit area or hallway can result in a serious accident. Employers neglecting to change a light bulb can cause someone to be severely injured.
From the NSC: “Burnt-out light bulbs can make hazards hard to spot, so replace those bulbs immediately.”
- Air quality
For many workers in Indiana and Illinois (as well as those in other parts of the country), their work puts them in proximity to a wide variety of toxins. Exposure through their skin, their eyes, or by inhalation may be dangerous and deadly. Workers may be at risk of death when exposed to some toxins in the air. Others may suffer serious or permanent skin injuries or lung injuries.
From the NSC: Workers that may be exposed to fumes, chemicals or exhaust at work, should be protected with working exhaust fans.
- Overexertion
A great many workers in our part of the country are involved in work that places physical demands on their body. From miners to truckers, construction workers, sailors, and dock workers, these employees must be respected for their prowess and skill and protected from overexertion while getting the job done. Workers who are pushed without needed breaks are in danger of serious bodily injury or accident.
From the NSC: Supervisors should work with employees to make sure the worker is not over-stressed or strained when performing physical job tasks.
OSHA: Employer’s Duty of Hazard Identification and Assessment
According to the federal worker safety agency, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), the duty to identify and deal with worksite hazards is a “critical element” of any employer’s safety and health program.
“One of the “root causes” of workplace injuries, illnesses, and incidents is the failure to identify or recognize hazards that are present, or that could have been anticipated.”
Hazards on the job site, from OSHA’s perspective, involve any kind of potential for harm to the worker. They can be a condition on the site (like a burned out light bulb darkening a hallway) or an activity undertaken by the worker (working in a job with toxic chemicals).
- Chemicals that are toxic, flammable, or corrosive;
- Risks of explosion due to chemical reaction or over-pressurization;
- Electric shock (electrocution) due to short circuit, fire, static;
- Excavation collapse;
- Falls;
- Fires causing burns;
- Mechanical vibrations causing nerve damage or material fatigue;
- Mechanical failures;
- Radiation, both ionizing and non-ionizing;
- Struck by or against an object which can cause bodily injury or death; and
- Visibility where lack of lighting or obstructed vision creates a danger.
Employers Have a Duty to Identify Hazards and Take Action to Keep Workers Safe
OSHA considers the duties of employers, in protecting employees against hazards that cause accidents on the job site, to include the following responsibilities:
- Employers should know their job site, collecting information about hazards they know to exist, as well as hazards that are likely to be there in their company workplace.
- Employers should not take it for granted that they know their job site; they need to review their information about hazards to make sure they are current with things.
- Employers need to conduct actual inspections of their job sites and workplaces to identify new or recurring hazards. These need to be done periodically, not just once a year.
- If there is an accident, the employer needs to investigate what happened and determine the underlying hazards on the site and how those hazards contributed to the accident and resulting worker injuries.
- Employers need to keep track of hazards and injuries that result from them, so they can evaluate similarities and trends in work site dangers.
- Employers have to be vigilant in assessing hazards facing their workers in any kind of non-routine situation (or during an emergency).
- Once a hazard is identified, the employer should determine the severity and likelihood of a serious or fatal accident resulting from it. This information should be used to prioritize corrective actions.
Seeking Justice for Worker Accidents Caused by Hazards on the Job
More and more workers are being killed in preventable workplace accidents. In less than a decade, the number of worker deaths from these job site accidents has risen almost 20% and the trend shows no sign of stopping.
The reality is that while employers know all too well their duty to keep their workers safe, this is not happening. Workers in Indiana, Illinois, and the rest of the country face unacceptable levels of risk just by doing their job.
When a worker dies in a job site fatality, there are laws in place for justice in both Indiana and Illinois. Duties are defined by law for employers, and if they neglect to protect against hazards on the job and this causes someone to die, the employer should be held accountable for it.
Having this month’s focus on making employers become more vigilant in keeping workers safe is a good thing, and we support National Safety Month and this week’s focus on Hazard Recognition. However, workers and their loved ones also need to know that until the trend of workplace fatalities changes, there are high accident risks on our job sites. Please be careful out there!
