Safety In The Home

Lost productivity, absenteeism, and healthcare are impacted by home-related injuries.

The last time I wrote about safety in the home with GAWDA members was in a Safety Topic dated September 2003. In that article, I discussed how important home safety is to you and your family, as well as its importance as an employer and employee in the American workplace. I encouraged you then, as I do now, to find a place in your safety process to incorporate safety away from work into your day-to-day communications with your workforce. I also suggested that you dedicate at least one safety meeting per year to an off-the-job, safety-related topic. You can still review the content of that September 2003 article in the GAWDA Safety Topic archives.

Why Home Safety Is Important
According to the Home Safety Council's “State of Home Safety in America” report, there are an average of nearly 20,000 deaths and 21 million medical visits to doctors and hospitals due to unintentional injuries suffered each year in the home in the United States.

The same study shows that American businesses are significantly impacted by these home-related injuries costing the employer up to $38 billion in a single year.

“Home-related injuries not only affect the health and well-being of employees, but will impact a company's bottom line due to lost productivity, absenteeism, as well as healthcare costs, “ says Home Safety Council President Meri-K Appy.

Based on the enormous cost associated with these off-the-job injuries and deaths that affect your employees and their families, you can and should take measures to promote home safety education with your employees and families. It's not only cost-effective, but it's the right thing to do.

How to Get Started
The Home Safety Council offers free turnkey home safety materials, tools and resources. Some of the materials have been designed specifically for businesses use. Their Web site, www.homesafetycouncil.org, offers comprehensive online centers for home safety articles, checklists, information, tips and other resources. A link on this Web site, “Home Safety Month,” provides direct access to other free tools and materials. Your “Safety Away from Work” program couldn't be made any easier with the free material and tools made available on these Web sites.

This is a sample of some of the material that is available to you. Some of these materials are also available in Spanish.