subject: Setting Priorities for Material Handling Safety [print this page] Dewitt, NY September 7, 2010: The Third Quarter 2010 issue of The MHEDA Journal (http://www.TheMhedaJournal.org), the leading online magazine for the forklift, conveyor, storage & handling, and general material handling equipment industries, features an article by David Hermann, safety director at Wisconsin Lift Truck, a forklift distributor based in Brookfield, Wisconsin, about why and how to develop a workplace safety program.
Consider a person who takes 10 risks per day. The average person works 246 days in a year, which equates to 2,460 risks taken by that person in a year. Add up those risks over the life of the worker, and it becomes likely that a significant injury may happen. "The best way to mitigate this risk level is minimize risk-taking," Hermann writes. "Training employees helps them identify hazards and avoid the risks altogether."
That makes it important to have a training program and a safety policy, but all the safeguards and safety rules in the world won't matter unless employees make the decision to follow them.
"As a society, we have developed numerous organizations for protecting people's safety. All these safety systems have a core theme: People are far too important to allow a preventable incident to harm them," Hermann writes. The feeling of individual significance can permeate the workplace to create a culture of safety.
For more details or to read the full article, visit the Third Quarter 2010 issue of The MHEDA Journal. The Third Quarter issue is the first to be showcased on a newly launched, redesigned website at www.TheMhedaJournal.org. The new look allows for more frequent updates and better reader interaction. The MHEDA Journal is published quarterly, in January, April, July and October. For more information, contact Chris Powers, editor of The MHEDA Journal, (315) 445-2347, e-mail: chris@datakey.org.
