The 7 Deadly Sins of Workplace Safety

We’ve already discussed the 10 Commandments of Workplace Safety, but it’s also important to talk about what you should NOT do: the 7 Deadly Sins of Workplace Safety. We’ve listed all of them in this post. Check them out:

1. Negligence

From the most basic to the most complex safety rules, all must be followed to the letter to ensure team safety. However, in most companies, this doesn’t happen.

Whether due to laziness or trusting in luck, many employees, even following orders from superiors, ignore safety standards in their daily work, even during high-risk activities.

We must always remember that standards exist for a reason and, no matter how minimal the chance of something happening may be, it’s always better to prevent than to remedy – or, in some cases, to lament, since remedying is no longer possible.

2. Greed

The second sin, related to the first, is greed. It usually comes from superiors who, to save on costs, decide to invest in cheaper and less effective PPE, when they don’t simply opt not to purchase PPE at all.

And this sin doesn’t only affect PPE; other workplace safety standards also end up being neglected in the name of money. As we said before, preventing is always better than remedying, and the rules are there for a reason.

3. Absence of Signage

Proper signage is a simple but highly effective measure for accident prevention. Thus, its absence can cause problems, leaving workers confused or without information.

For this reason, there are two specific standards for workplace signage. The first is NR-26, which determines the use of colors for signage. Then we have NBR 7195, which specifies the specific colors for each type of signage (red for firefighting equipment, white for circulation arrows, etc.).

4. Lack of Incentive and Training for PPE Use

As we mentioned in item 2, the use of PPE is extremely important to ensure employee safety, regardless of the industry. However, it’s not enough to just acquire the best equipment and expect it to be used correctly.

Training must be provided, along with the implementation of awareness policies, to teach workers about the correct use of PPE as well as its importance. Additionally, constant supervision is also necessary to ensure that equipment is being used.

A very common measure also implemented in this regard is celebrating milestones of accident-free days – this motivates the team to follow standards more closely, including PPE use.

5. Absence of Daily Safety Dialogues

Another very important point for safety (and for work in general) is communication. This is where DDS, Daily Safety Dialogue, comes in. The technique consists of a dialogue held every day before work, guiding employees about safety measures.

This way, you refresh workers’ memory about standards and ensure that everyone is aware of procedures. Additionally, an interesting tip is to use real cases as examples, facilitating understanding and arousing more interest among employees.

6. Overload and Long Work Shifts

In addition to physical fatigue, a long workday also causes mental fatigue, leaving workers more inattentive and with less motivation/energy to perform quality work. This is the perfect recipe for generating an accident. In a high-pressure context, the danger is even greater.

Therefore, always pay attention to the working conditions of the entire team, avoiding overloads and long shifts. Extending an employee’s workload may seem like a good idea but, in most cases, it will only make them less productive, decreasing the quality of their work and increasing the risk of accidents.

7. Lack of Updates

As in any field, workplace safety professionals need to stay updated about their sector. Standards are constantly being updated (check the dates of the latest updates in our post about) and new techniques and equipment emerge all the time.

However, many professionals become complacent or assume they already know everything and don’t need to update themselves, which is never true. Even if you have all the courses and years of experience, this is a constantly evolving field and everyone must make an effort to keep up with updates.

Fortunately, with the internet everything has become easier, and there are countless websites, blogs, and social media profiles focused on workplace safety that share the latest industry news daily.

Conclusion 

These were the 7 Deadly Sins of Workplace Safety, the main industry errors that you must avoid at all costs to ensure team safety. Of course, there are many other rules, which is why it’s essential to always study not only the latest news but also review basic standards.

We hope this post has helped reinforce your memory of workplace safety fundamentals and make your company safer.

Also check out our post about everything you need to know about lighting for confined spaces.