To be safe it only takes a minute…
How a moment's thought could help to save a life
One of the key messages of the Health and Safety at Work is the responsibility to get ourselves and our team home safely at the end of every working day.
Did you know that, on average, one person dies as a result of an incident at work every week in New Zealand?
What solutions are there to prevent this?
Having Awareness
Life seems to move at an alarming rate, but it pays to just take a moment and consider our literal place in the world.
Do you remember when you were taught to cross the road? Stop, look, listen, think! These same straightforward principles can apply to health & safety too.
To provide an exhaustive list of queries and factors would be impossible, but here are a few quick ideas to get the ball rolling:
What potential risks can I see? Trip hazards, uneven ground or potholes, unexpected ponding, power lines overhead, unauthorised people wandering across the site…
What potential risks can I hear? Reversing trucks, loud machinery, fizzing or buzzing from an electrical connection, excessive background noise from the surrounding area…
What else do I need to stop and think about? Can I smell any chemicals? Am I the only person on site? Should I be working in this weather? If I needed to call for help, would my cellphone work here? How can I keep myself and my workmates safer
Speak up for yourself and your colleagues
The more we discuss something, the more real it feels to us.
Sharing information, asking questions, making suggestions – this is how we learn, and how positive procedural changes can be devised and implemented. That's why it's vitally important that companies encourage their teams to voice their concerns.
