In the last year, American businesses have confronted challenging market factors including the pandemic, a housing surge, a tight labor market, and increasing material costs. These macroeconomic factors can directly impact worker safety and wellbeing, making it more important than ever to keep safety at the center of your clients’ insurance and risk management strategy.
It’s through this lens that we present our Top 10 Safety Topics from 2022 report. This report reflects the “most requested/most downloaded” safety topics of the year from our population of customers, and shines a light on subjects that are still a key focus for businesses in 2023.
How we determined our Top 10
Foresight is powered by Safesite, the most innovative safety program and virtual consulting service in workers’ compensation insurance today. We compiled this list based on data fed by which topics were most requested from Safesite’s topic library and mobile app by clients.
The data represents businesses across a variety of sectors, including the core industries that make up the bulk of our Foresight Insurance policyholders—construction, manufacturing, agribusiness, landscaping, and light industrial businesses.
Here are the top requested safety topics and reports from 2022.
1. Daily Class I Forklift Inspection Checklist
There were 70 forklift work-related deaths in 2021 and more than 7,000 non-fatal injuries involving time away from work in 2020. Forklift operation is a dangerous job. But there are ways to reduce and eliminate incidents.
Proper inspection and maintenance are vital to safe forklift operation. This checklist will help you and your team ensure forklifts are in good working order. And if you notice issues or repairs are needed, you can record them in Safesite with documentation.
Get the Forklift Inspection Checklist
2. Choosing the Right Ladder
Falls are one of the leading causes of death and injuries resulting in days away from work.
In 2020, falls made up 33% of all preventable non-fatal injuries, according to the National Safety Council, the most of any category.
The keyword there? Preventable.
Fall incidents are some of the most devastating and can be avoided with the right precautions, like proper ladder safety. Use our guide to help you and your employees make the correct ladder choice.
3. PPE Inspection to Prevent Struck-by Injuries
Correct PPE utilization can be hard to track on your own. But with this inspection template, you can ensure your crews are using the right equipment to protect themselves on a specific job site.
4. Agotamiento por calor (Heat Exhaustion)
Heat exhaustion is a common culprit of workplace incidents, especially for construction crews working in summer heat. This Spanish-translated guide will help supervisors and forepersons educate workers on the dangers of heat exhaustion and the steps they can take to prevent it.
5. Vehicle Safety Checklist
Moving vehicles are a major hazard to employees. In 2021, roadway incidents involving motorized vehicles were the leading cause of worker-related deaths. Use the vehicle safety checklist to ensure your fleet is ready before you hit the road.
6. Construction Eye Protection Toolbox Talk
Eye injuries are widespread in construction and they’re avoidable. With this toolbox talk, you can walk your employees through different forms of eye protection and what’s needed for specific tasks.
Construction Eye Protection Toolbox Talk
7. General Housekeeping Inspection
Keeping a workspace clean keeps your workforce safe. Neglecting housekeeping duties can lead to a dangerous trio of injuries: slips, trips, and falls.
Create a routine and good clean-up habits with the housekeeping inspection template.
Use the Housekeeping Inspection Template
8. COVID-19 Daily Guidelines Meeting
COVID-19’s transmissibility makes it a threat to teams working in close proximity and the people they interact with every day. Help your team understand the risks associated with COVID-19, how it’s spread, and the proper safety protocols to mitigate illness.
COVID-19 Daily Guidelines Meeting Template
9. Back Safety & Lifting
Overexertion injuries make up 22% of non-fatal workplace injuries. And they result in an average of 14 days away from work. Improper lifting technique is a frequent cause. With this template, you’ll observe workers’ behavior and identify opportunities to reduce injury risk.
Back Safety & Lifting Template
10. Hand Washing Toolbox Talk
Proper handwashing keeps crews healthy and on the job. Use this toolbox talk to cover correct handwashing techniques and their importance.
Get the Hand Washing Toolbox Talk
Everyday is an opportunity to improve safety
Each of the templates, tools, and guides referenced above are available on Safesite’s desktop site, and can also be downloaded on the Safesite mobile app to access the entire library on your device. Even when an employee is working in the field, these resources are only a swipe or a search away.
Using Foresight and Safesite, companies can drive behavior improvement with industry-specific safety actions. Activity and observations can be tracked in the app, allowing an organization to pinpoint areas of need and create a safer work culture.
Improving safety culture begins with strong communication—between employer and employees, between customer and broker, and between broker and underwriter. These templates and topics—and many others in our library—can be used as valuable conversation starters when planning a worker-focused, safety-centered approach to managing risk in workers’ compensation.
