Have you considered the importance of maintaining clean floors in your industrial work environment? Though it seems like a simple idea, keeping the workplace floors clean is one of the best preventative measures you can take to ensure a safe place to work for your employees. Tools such as a floor buffing machine and floor sweepers need to be regularly used in workplaces such as warehouses. Below is some information about maintaining clean floors for employee safety.
First, it’s important to remember how common this type of work is. In the United States, there are currently about 7,000 warehouses, which employ in excess of 140,000 workers. With such a large base of employees, it creates a higher likelihood of on the job injuries. In fact, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that the warehousing and storage industry experiences almost 15,000 illnesses and injuries every year. Statistics from 2011 show that there were 5.5 workplace injuries recorded for each 100 full time warehouse employees.
Secondly, a large number of those injuries can be related to how well the cleanliness of the workplace floors is maintained. It’s been found that people who work in establishments such as grocery stores, warehouses, and business where meat is handled are at a higher risk for slip, trip, and fall injuries — the risk is 75% higher than the average industry rate for all other private industries put together. The higher risk and injuries have a definite impact on business profitability. Injuries from slips, trips, and falls make up about 25% of all reported injury claims per fiscal year; additionally, these specific injuries are the cause for more than 95 million lost work days per year. Injured employees that can’t come to work lead to decreased productivity in the overall staff, which leads to decreased profit for the company. Another fact found by the U.S. Department of Labor is that slips, trips and falls make up the majority of general industry accidents, which account for 15% of all accidental deaths per year. This is the second-leading cause of accidental death, second to only motor vehicles accidents. This is why it is vital for business owners to take every precaution in making sure the floors and other areas of the workplace are clean and safe for their employees.
In summary, there are a large number of industrial workers in the U.S. today and industrial work has been found to be high risk environment for workplace injuries. Because of that, it is highly important for industrial business owners to take every step necessary, such as keeping floors regularly cleaned, to maintain a clean and safe workplace for them, both as a means of protecting employee safety and ensuring that there is no lost revenue because of employee injuries. It benefits both the business owner and the employee, and it is a simple way to make your business a great place to work.
