World Day for Safety and Health at Work: Common Workplace Injuries and How to Prevent Them

World Day for Safety & Health at Work is celebrated every year on 28th April in order to promote the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases globally. This awareness-raising campaign aims to draw international attention towards reducing work-related injuries and deaths through the creation of a safe health culture. 

• Occupational health is related to all aspects of health and safety at the workplace, emphasising the primary prevention of hazards.
• Workers’ safety and health positively impact productivity and economic and social development. Prevention should form an essential part of economic activities. In order to ensure sustainable and fair economic growth, having the highest standards of safety and health standards is just as important as business performance, and profits.
• Our laws have a lot of workplace safety and health laws. It is the duty of the state to implement policies that encourage workplace safety and the health of workers.
• The major occupational diseases/morbidity of concern in India are silicosis, musculoskeletal injuries, coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, chronic obstructive lung diseases, asbestosis, byssinosis, pesticide poisoning and noise-induced hearing loss. 
• Many factors affect one’s health, including the kind of food one eats, the quantity of water one drinks, and whether one gets enough rest or exercise.

• At the workplace, one may be exposed to hazards that cause illnesses and he/she may carry out activities that may result in serious injuries. Each type of work exposes the worker to different hazards.

• One needs to learn to identify what health problems may be work-related and what working conditions may be causing them.

For eg,  if one feels pain or discomfort in any part of the body, he/she should immediately ask the questions like:

• Does the pain increase when he/she does the work?
• Is it concerned with repetitive or forceful movement?

Some working conditions can cause immediate injuries such as:

• Hot surfaces, hot oil or grease
• Slippery or uneven floors
• Working at heights
• Working too quickly
• Electrical equipment or wire that is defective or in contact with water
• Lack of fire exits or blocked fire exits
• Poorly designed tools
• Working in a confined space
• Chemicals that can cause a fire or explosion\\
• Getting infected with sick people while working in humid or contaminated workplaces
• Stress/anxiety due to work overload.job insecurity, fast work pace

In order to prevent illnesses or injuries at the workplace, it is necessary to identify all the possible causes to get to the root cause of the problem, and if possible eliminate the hazard once and for all. 

Improper usage of PPE(personal protective equipment), lack of experience with using technology, musculoskeletal diseases etc. 

What can workers do to protect their health & safety at work?

• Gain knowledge  about the hazards in their workplace
• Document the problem
• Report hazards or injuries immediately
• Speak with co-workers so that everyone is aware of the hazards and can support each other
• Speak with the health & safety committee(if there is one)  or take steps to create a committee.

Considering the above-mentioned facts, an effective environment needs to be created at all workplaces so that the people working can work fearlessly and smoothly as preventive measures are in place.  With this set of mind, it will help to get more efficient output from the employees. Even the employer will be benefited in terms of worries with respect to any untoward incident.