When Texas employers do not make workplace safety a priority, their employees are put at risk every time they go to work. It has been estimated that more than 6,000 people are killed at their jobs each day around the world. Unsafe work conditions not only result in injuries and deaths, they also cause legal problems for employers.
Companies may be able to create safer working conditions by enlisting the help and expertise of all of their employees. Though some employers think that health and safety policies should be the responsibility of a specific department, workers who are actually performing the tasks in question may have valuable insight about how to make the tasks safer. Rather than discouraging employees from reporting injuries, employers should welcome the reports and try to learn what caused the injuries.
An employer that gets in trouble after a safety inspection may start to implement new safety policies as a result of the negative report. However, the new culture of safety may not last much longer than a couple of weeks. To keep a workplace safe, an employer may want to invest in workplace safety reminder signs that can be placed all around a workplace.
Despite all precautions, however, accidents will continue to take place on the job. Employees who are injured as a result may be eligible to file a claim for workers’ compensation benefits under their employer’s insurance coverage. A lawyer who has experience with these matters can often help put together all of the necessary documentation in support of the claim.