5 Things You should know about Safety Alerts

Published on: 08 November 2019 Last Updated on: 11 November 2019

Safety alerts are an important part of any business. Having the right alerts in place means that you can quickly react to any incident and, hopefully, resolve the issue. They also deal with the aftereffects of an incident, allowing you to comply with legislation and treat everyone involved fairly.

There are several different types of safety alerts but they all serve the same purpose. However, while keeping track of hire risk areas in businesses is important, personal duress alarms must be seen as an essential part of the security structure of any business that has lone workers.

Let’s take a look at 5 important things you should know about safety alerts:

1. Know What A Safety Alert Is

The safety alert is a report after an incident has happened. It details what has happened, the factors that contributed to it happening, and what actions should be taken in the future to prevent it from happening again.

A safety alert can also be the regular contact that you receive from your lone workers to confirm they are well and work is proceeding as expected. This is an essential part of your safety policy to ensure your staff are looked after properly.

2. Confidentiality

Any safety alert is confidential. If it’s a report on an incident then it is simply the facts pertaining to the incident. The idea behind this is not to attribute blame or even seek blame, instead the report should help companies isolate issues and use the information to improve safety in the future.

Because the reports don’t identify any individuals it is possible to share these with other businesses and improve safety across the industry.

3. Reporting Factors

It’s easy to think that these types of reports can only be made when a serious incident occurs. However, you can report any incident, even a small problem with communicating with an independent worker is worth reporting.

By reporting all incidents you can dramatically improve the safety of your workers and others, that’s worth the small inconvenience of filling out a few forms.

4. Submitting an Alert is Easy

Safety alerts can be submitted online and shouldn’t take longer than ten minutes. This means that there is never an excuse for not completing a safety alert.

All you need to access the safety alert system is the internet and your company numbers. Just remember, that every time you fill in a safety alert online you’re helping the industry become safer for everyone involved, and even for the end consumer.

5. Types Of Safety Alerts

Safety alerts cover a wide range of incidents in the workplace. You’ll find safety alerts are used for product issues, petroleum transport, and even dangerous goods. In these situations the safety alerts can be used to warn others that the goods in transit are dangerous and need to be treated with care.

In fact, this part of the safety alert is the first step in ensuring the entire handling procedure is safe, and that all staff remain safe.

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Maintaining Productivity: The Basics of Industrial Safety

Health and safety in the workplace should always be a topic that is high on your agenda if you are working in any sort of industrial environment, and if you can achieve a good safety record it should also contribute to greater productivity too. Here is an overview of what sort of typical safety hazards you need to guard against and what steps to take to avoid an accident, plus a look at some of the main basic safety measures you should adopt in order to keep the production line rolling and workers as safe as possible. Understanding the hazards: A good starting point would be to make a checklist of the main hazards you are likely to have to deal with in your workplace, as a working knowledge of these dangers will help you to take counteractive measures. You can categorize industrial hazards under a number of broad headings. Physical threats to the safety of workers are a key issue and there are numerous challenges to account for in your safety procedures, such as slip and trip hazards, inadequate lighting, the risk of exposure to noise and poor air quality, plus the danger of fire, amongst others. You can take steps to manage these specific threats, such as maintaining good air quality throughout the building, for example, which you can read about on this page. Other key hazard categories include biological and chemical threats, injuries sustained through poor ergonomics and building design, and even the mental health aspect of working in a challenging or hazardous situation on a regular basis. A good suggestion would be to conduct a thorough health and safety review where you take a detailed look at the layout of your building and what specific dangers workers face every time they clock on. Make a comprehensive checklist of all the potential hazards that are relevant to your particular industry and then look to create a health and safety plan that deals with those issues in the best way possible. Dealing with fire risk: The risk of fire is a constant potential threat to every building and that risk is enhanced when you have machinery, chemicals, and other potentially hazardous sources all under the one roof. There are many different ways for a fire to start and electrical faults, chemical spillages, and a lack of safety awareness amongst workers, can all create a fire risk in an instant. You can’t always avoid a fire starting when an accident occurs through an unforeseen set of circumstances, but you can at least have a robust set of fire safety procedures in place to help deal with the situation and limit the potential damage. A good quality fire alarm warning system needs to be installed and regularly tested and maintained, and a sprinkler system might also be necessary, once you have carried out a fire risk assessment. Fire extinguishers installed at regular intervals around the building will allow immediate action to be taken to try and reduce the spread of fire and hi-spec smoke detectors provide a decent early warning of a fire or smoke hazard. Emergency lighting: All workers need to be fully briefed on what to do in the event of an emergency and how to evacuate the building in the quickest and safest way possible. One of the threats to a successful and safe evacuation of the building is when power in the building is lost and it becomes dangerous to walk around in the dark. Power cuts are always a possibility in an industrial setting for a number of plausible reasons and a lack of adequate lighting greatly heightens the prospect of an accident happening. The way to counteract this threat is to install emergency lighting that lights up the building to make it safer to see where you are going and minimize the risk of an accident. Falls are a leading cause of accidents and deaths: One of the main causes of death and injury in the workplace falls, and it should be noted that a worker doesn’t have to fall from a great height to suffer a bad or fatal injury. Nearly half of all fatal falls in an industrial setting occurred when the person fell from a height of fewer than 20 feet. More than 10% of recorded fatal falls were from a height below six feet. Some industries have a higher incidence of falls than others, and it should not be a surprise to learn that the construction sector is considered one of the most hazardous workplace environments for falls. It is reasonable to surmise that a very high percentage of these recorded fatalities and injuries could have been prevented with adequate risk assessment procedures in place and with the right use of safety equipment and adequate training. Large numbers of workers are treated for fall-related injuries each year but with the right precautionary measures and by raising awareness of the potential dangers, many of these accidents could have been avoided. Know your limits: Pushing your body to its limit and beyond is another leading cause of accidents in the workplace and overexertion is cited as the cause of about a third of all work-related accidents according to the National Safety Council. Every worker should be encouraged to assess and know their limitations before undertaking a task that might lead to an injury through overexertion. Ergonomic injuries are when you do something like tear a tendon, damage your spine, or overreach when attempting to lift an object that is too heavy, or is not being lifted and handled correctly. Every worker needs to have health and safety training that highlights and talks about the dangers of ergonomic injuries and provides guidance on how to work safely and know your physical limitations. It is not just physical jobs that create injuries and office workers can also suffer injuries if they don’t set up their work environment in an ergonomically efficient way and don’t take regular breaks away from their desk. These are some of the main causes of accidents but with some basic safety training and an ongoing risk assessment program, it is possible to significantly reduce the prospect of an accident happening in your workplace. Read Also: How To Improve Workplace Security

Common IT Security Risks in the Workplace

When it comes to your business, it is important to recognize some of the highest security risks that are present. Your security needs to be a top priority. To run your business, you will collect a lot of information about customers and even other businesses you work with. If a data breach happens, you could end up with a huge loss in reputation and other issues. There are a number of big IT security risks that can show up in the workplace. Recognizing these and finding ways to prevent them can keep that data safe. Some of the common IT security risks that can happen in the workplace include: 1. Insider Threats According to one study, about 57% of the recorded data breaches were not done by outside attackers. Instead, these were done by a threat that is inside the organization. And often this is not because someone is being malicious within the company. Negligent employees who click on the wrong link or give off information carelessly were often the cause. One of the top causes of a data breach still remains human error. Companies need to maintain focus on the inside as much as the outside to ensure data stays safe. However, it is sometimes hard to detect an insider threat. In addition to watching for these insider threats, a company needs to invest in the right training for its employees. Since most of this issue comes from negligence or carelessness, rather than malicious intent, things like security awareness training may help more than anything. 2. Social Engineering Another threat to watch out for is something known as social engineering. It can affect companies as much as it will affect individuals. Humans are susceptible to manipulation, which is why many attackers will use a variety of psychological tricks to get what they want. With social engineering, the right protection software or looking for different indicators of compromise will not be enough. It is hard to really predict human behavior all the time. All it takes is for one person to click one lucrative offer that is too good to be true, and your company has to deal with a data breach. What makes it even worse is that malicious attackers can easily find new ways to trick individuals to give up private data or granting access to critical areas. There are many different types of social engineering attacks that can be used including: Spear phishing Whaling Baiting Pretexting Tailgating Scareware Vishing Since this issue can exploit the basics of human behavior, it is sometimes hard to find the best way to combat it. Even tech-savvy users have fallen victim in the past from some of these. Educating your employees about these attacks and updating your training procedures is one of the best ways to help. 3. Ransomware Another thing to be careful about is ransomware. This can be a scary type of tactic that will make even the best in IT have to do a lot of work to prevent and fix it. Basically, this is when a hacker is able to get ahold of private or sensitive information and they demand a ransom to get the information returned. Sometimes the hacker just has the information, other times they will choose to freeze up a whole system and make it impossible to use. Even when. You agree to pay the ransom, there is little chance that the data will be returned and that the hacker will leave you alone in the future. Ransomware is simply a type of malware that can infect a network or a computer. It then encrypts the files or finds another way to deny others access to them before demanding some kind of ransom in the process. Usually, the malware will not delete the files. They will be present on the network, but without the decryption key, no one can access them. There are a lot of threats that come with this kind of attack, such as the permanent deletion of the files. But whether you pay or not, the hacker is already on the system and is the one in control the whole time. There are a few things you can do to prevent this security threat. First, teach your employees about how it works and how to not open suspicious files or attachments in their emails. This can help keep the chance of ransomware off the computer. Backing up your data and keeping records off the main part is a good idea too. This will allow you to start over with the information you need, without having to play the games, and most often lose, with the hacker. 4. Consider a Cybersecurity Audit If you are worried about some of the security risks that show up in the workplace, it may be a good idea to do a full audit of your system. A cybersecurity audit allows a professional to take a look at your network and the way it is used to determine whether there are any weaknesses that could increase your risk of an attack. Getting this audit done is one of the best ways to see where your security is right now. When it is done you should have a complete report about what is working and what is not when it comes to your network. Expect there to be things wrong with the audit. This is just a chance to fix them. When the audit is done, take some time to go through all the different recommendations and suggestions and find ways to improve your network security. Even small steps in the right direction make it less likely someone will get onto the system who should not be there. 5. Keeping Your Network Safe There are a number of IT security risks that you need to be careful about when it comes to the workplace. Planning ahead, recognizing some of these issues, and completing a cybersecurity audit can help you get the right level of security you need. Read Also: Everything You Need To Know About PKI In Cybersecurity How To Make Sure You Get The Best Service From Your IT Supplier A Few Things You Should Know Before Finalizing Managed It Services

Staying Safe in the Office: 8 Workplace Safety Tips Everyone Should Know

Workplace accidents don't only happen on construction sites and in warehouses. The office environment poses risks to health and safety, too. Although most office hazards don't result in death, they do cause injury and sickness. In this article, we take help from one of America’s leading work injury lawyers, Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard. We ask them to list down some constructive steps which can help businesses not be at the receiving end of workplace injury lawsuits. If you are a business organization that is concerned about your workplace safety requirements, please read on to get a fair idea of the topic. Are you safe in your workplace? Do you know which hazards to look out for? It's your employer's responsibility to make the workplace safe, and yours to maintain it. It's important to know how to protect yourself from potential hazards. Keep reading for the eight most important workplace safety tips. 1. Ergonomic Desk Setups: The most common office injury is muscle strain from a poor desk setup. When the body stays in uncomfortable positions too long, it causes strain. Muscle strain can create short and long-term pain. You can prevent this situation by making sure your desk is set up ergonomically. First, make sure the height of your computer monitor is at eye level. Your chair should allow you to sit with a straight posture, your elbows at desk height. When you type on the keyboard, your forearms should sit gently on the desk. They shouldn't be straining to reach the keyboard. Second, make sure your office chair is on wheels. Reaching for objects and twisting to grab them cause back strain. Use the wheels to move closer to whatever you're grabbing. If you use the phone a lot at work, invest in a headset. This prevents neck pain from leaning into the phone. Your employer should supply any ergonomic materials. 2. Make Emergency Exits Clear and Known: It's crucial that everyone in the office know where the emergency exits are. In the case of a fire, you can't take the elevator. You must be able to take the stairs. Not only does mean you need proper signage, but you need clear pathways. Many offices are guilty of having filing boxes sit in the hallway for weeks. Someone will put them away eventually, right? If these boxes get left in front of an emergency exit, they could prevent a speedy exit. This is only one of the reasons to have a clean and clutter-free office. 3. Prevent Slips and Falls: Boxes left on the ground are also serious tripping hazards. You might turn a corner expecting it to be clear, only to knock your shin on a stack of boxes. If you don't trip and fall this time, someone else will. Make it a rule to always keep pathways clear of clutter. If someone takes a box from its storage spot, they must put it back. Slips are another common office safety concern. The breakroom is where people fill their water bottles and prepare lunch. Spilt liquids are hazards for slipping and falling. Your office needs to have "wet floor" signs so employees can signify a spill right away. Until the janitor gets there, people will know to use caution near the spill. 4. Proper Storage: Improper storage of boxes can cause muscle strains and injuries. The basic rule is to keep heavier items on the bottom shelf, lighter on the higher ones. If a box were to fall from the top shelf, you don't want it to be the heavy one. Every bookshelf should have a step ladder near it. Reaching upwards to lift a box is dangerous for your back muscles. Instead, use the handy ladder to bring down whatever you need. When it comes to filing cabinets, it's crucial all the drawers aren't opened at the same time. This can cause the cabinet to fall over and land on you. Open one drawer at a time and make sure it's closed when you're done. 5. Inspect Electrical Cords: Fire hazards exist in office workplaces, too. Since so much of the office equipment relies on electricity, there are tons of cords and wires. Cords and wires that have tears or rips are risks for starting a fire. Some offices use extension cords as a regular office tool. These, too, are serious fire hazards. Check the state of your office’s cords regularly. Don’t get used to using extension cords. Instead, have an electrician from Barwon Heads to re-position the outlets. 6. Use Hazardous Tools Correctly: Even the office has hazardous tools that need instruction. All employees should get training on the various office tools and equipment. For example, large paper cutters are common for workplaces that work with paper. Without proper training, these tools can cut off a finger or seriously slice you. Any automatic office equipment requires caution. Keep your hair, jewelry, and sleeves away from any openings. 7. Be Aware of Surroundings: Many workplace incidents occur when the employee isn't aware of their surroundings. You may walk around reading text on your phone or looking at the ground. While you'll see clutter on the ground, you won't see hazards at eye level. When people don't close the top drawer of a filing unit, someone could walk into it. If you bump into a ladder, the person using it could fall. It's everyone's responsibility to be aware of their surroundings. Encourage all employees to slow down; it's better to be safe than fast. 8. Choose a Health and Safety Officer: Staying on top of all the different health and safety aspects is tedious. You may not have time to check cords, signs, and declutter every day. As a solution, elect one employee to be a health and safety hazard. Give them the task of doing a weekly or bi-weekly check of the office. They can have a report to fill out. Any hazards that need fixing can be on the report. Bonus pay could be the incentive for an employee to take this role. Even the employees who aren't appointed officers should take safety training. Click here to find out why safety skills are important in the office. Want More Workplace Safety Tips? The safety of all employees depends on health and safety procedures. If you keep the workplace clean, organized, and up to date, there will be fewer risks of incidents. Use the workplace safety tips above to make your office a safer place to work. There are tons of other ways to improve your workplace. Stay up to date on business news and trends to improve your office. Happy employees do productive work which thus boosts sales. Read Also: How To Improve Workplace Security The Top Reasons Why Your Business Needs A Security Guard

5 Things You should know about Safety Alerts

1. Know What A Safety Alert Is

2. Confidentiality

3. Reporting Factors

4. Submitting an Alert is Easy

5. Types Of Safety Alerts

Five Tips to Make Sure Your Security Software Is Actually Secure

How To Find A Locksmith To Trust With Your Home Security, Locks & Keys

Content Rally

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

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Maintaining Productivity: The Basics of Industrial Safety

Common IT Security Risks in the Workplace

Staying Safe in the Office: 8 Workplace Safety Tips Everyone Should Know

5 Things You should know about Safety Alerts

1. Know What A Safety Alert Is

2. Confidentiality

3. Reporting Factors

4. Submitting an Alert is Easy

5. Types Of Safety Alerts

Share this Article

Five Tips to Make Sure Your Security Software Is Actually Secure

How To Find A Locksmith To Trust With Your Home Security, Locks & Keys

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

Leave a Reply

Popular

Follow Us

Recent

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