How to make Pennsylvania manufacturing work safer

According to the Department of Labor, nearly four out of every 100 manufacturing workers around the country get sick or injured on the job. Taking the workplace as a whole, the manufacturing sector also accounts for 57 percent of all amputations and 26 percent of all hospitalizations that occur in a given year. However, there are steps that manufacturing companies can take to keep their workers safe.

First, companies should make safety a priority among its managers. This is because workers will tend to prioritize the things that get them good performance reviews. If a manager considers worker output over worker safety, the workers themselves will learn to prioritize output over their safety as well. Part of making safety a priority is to teach employees best practices related to safety and ensure that they are adhering to those best practices at all times.

Safety procedures and best practices should be made as easy as possible to adhere to. If workers are given complicated instructions or procedures to follow, they may decide not to follow them. Ideally, tools and resources that employees need to work safely will be located as close to their work area as possible to increase the odds of those items being used. In addition to providing clear and easy procedures to follow, employers should ensure that safety rules are being consistently enforced.

An injured worker may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits to help pay medical bills and make up lost salary while out of work. Benefits may be granted on either a temporary or permanent basis depending on the scope and severity of a worker’s injury. An attorney can often assist with the preparation and timely filing of the required claim documents.