Top 10 Safety Tips of 2018

Notebook reading "Top Safety Posts"

Last year MEMIC celebrated our 25th anniversary of working to provide the best workers’ comp insurance by focusing on workplace safety and the compassionate treatment of all workers. Our safety blogs keep getting better and better, here are our 10 most popular posts of 2018:

10. For the new year, lots of people try to give up things like smoking, but could you give up sitting? With the detrimental health effects of our more sedentary lifestyle, sitting has been called the new smoking. Maureen Anderson has tips for setting up a dynamic workstation that encourages movement and postural changes, so you no longer need to sit for hours on end when working.

9. If you’ve got some boxes to move, put on the Grateful Dead song Truckin’ and read Greg LaRochelle’s tips on using a dolly or hand truck.

8. Debra Willard Webb says try using your computer mouse with your non-dominant hand. Besides giving your dominant hand a much needed break, getting outside your comfort zone can even boost your brain function!

7. Portable power drills are so common that most people don’t bother to read the instructions. Greg LaRochelle offers tips on their proper use to avoid the risk of electric shock, puncture wounds, cuts, contusions from spinning/moving parts, strains from torque power, hair and clothing entanglement, contaminant inhalation, burns from hot drill bits, and eye injuries.

6. Tony Jones compiles advice from top leadership experts to offer tips on building a positive workplace culture that addresses what employees really want.

5. Randy Klatt debunks the benefits of speeding, with traffic patterns you probably won’t arrive any quicker and the negative consequences are never worth it. With 2 million motor vehicle-related injuries each year, there’s a good reason for speed limits.

4. Leadership, training and hiring practices are all important to a safe workplace. Never forget that a safe space for all your employees also means an environment free from discrimination and harassment. All employers should review their state’s laws and their own organizational culture. Every new employee, supervisor and manager should receive safety, discrimination and harassment training with regular refreshers.

3. Peter Koch’s four-part series on slip and fall prevention is definitely worth taking a second look at this winter.

2. Allan Brown recommends doing a Job Hazard Analysis to create “no ring tasks” to prevent jewelry and rings from causing electrical burns or amputations of the finger.

1. David Darnley covers what you should do to be prepared in the case of an active shooter event.

Let us know what you found most helpful so we can continue to offer the most valuable safety information possible. Thank you for your readership and here’s to 25 more years of safer workplaces!