A recent incident involved multiple injuries after a woman attempted to light a cigarette with a gas grill inside their rental SUV. Please click here for more details. Although this incident did not happen in the workplace, it illustrates the importance of not assuming new employees have the base safety awareness required for safely working at your facility. Do you have safety awareness training for new employees? Are they required to receive prior to performing any work at your facility? Does your facility have any unique safety hazards that are specific only to your industry? For instance, my Father worked for 40 years at an aluminum smelting/rolling facility. Aluminum soda cans were prohibited anywhere in the facility due to an explosion where an employee innocently placed a soda can inside an aluminum scrap container. During heating the aluminum in the furnace, the liquid residue in the soda can converting to steam resulting in a dangerous froth over.

Don’t assume your new or existing employees have all the hazard recognition tools to safely perform their jobs. Identify potential deficiencies and train your employees to be aware of all potential safety hazards.

Jon