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Easy Ways to Prevent Slip and Fall Accidents

DayLaborNumbers — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:28:03 -07:00

Few things reward recklessness more than a mouthy lawyer demanding cash for his clumsy client claiming that you are responsible for some oblivious idiot slipping and falling on your property. In some cases they may actually have a valid argument if you or another employee created a hazard that no reasonable person could anticipate, but usually they base their argument on a technicality related to a lack of due diligence because you didn't identify a minor hazard and built a wall around it like the one in China to keep people from coming into contact with it. Do to today's frivolous action friendly legal climate it is important to educate employees of how not to slip and fall on their big behinds in ways that will not fill their minds with dreams of falling for big bucks. Carnegie Mellon University put together a nice guide containing tips that if properly taught can help employees become safety minded instead of lawsuit seeking. Accidental slips occur when there is too little traction between someones feet and the surface they are walking on. Safety minded employees can avoid slipping by walking carefully, wearing shoes with good traction, and being aware of their surroundings. The complete list of solutions (linked to above) is far more inclusive and a useful guide for teaching employees how to behave. Businesses can reduce the likelihood of accidental slips and falls by making sure employees know how to stay on their feet, but also by marking slippery surfaces with signs, barriers, or security tape. Beyond that there isn't much you can do to prevent a convenient slip and fall from happening, but video surveillance has the potential to prove the difference between opportunistic falls and accidental slips. Conclusion Do everything you can to keep your employees on their feet. Failure to do so may result in a costly settlement or less expensive, yet still costly legal fees necessary to expose convincing performances by falling actors.
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Drug & Alcohol Testing Improves Workplace Quality

DayLaborNumbers — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:37:30 -07:00

It goes without saying that a sober worker is less likely to be involved in a drug or alcohol related accident than an intoxicated one, but substance abuse can hurt your business in other ways and is more prevalent than you may think. The United States Department of Labor (USDOL)'s compiled results from a number of independent studies on the Working Partners for an Alcohol and Drug Free Workplace section of their website indicating that 3.1% of American workers use illegal drugs before reporting to work and 2.9% work while high on illegal drugs. The problem of illegally drugged employees is nearly twice as high as the number of drunkards representing 1.8% of America's workforce who were caught drunk on the job while the exact number of those who only drank before work was not listed probably because those workers were able to stop whenever they wanted. The dysfunctional habits of of substance abusing employees have had a direct impact on job performance and safety. They are more likely to skip work more than 2 times a month and miss at least 2 days due to injury of illness. To help employees do what is best for businesses the USDOJ has compiled a comprehensive collection of online resources for employers seeking to eliminate drug and alcohol related incompetence. Their program as mentioned above is called Working Partners for an Alcohol and Drug Free Workplace. It provides a comprehensive guide to help employers screen workers for controlled substances with reliable testing, but also supports forgiving bosses with treatment resources that may help make their employees realize the benefits of working while sober.
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How Beer and Bread Built the Pyramids

DayLaborNumbers — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 06:44:51 -07:00

The Pyramids were not built by slaves like many people were led to believe for thousands of years, but by workers who traded labor for beer, bread, housing, and medical care. This one of the earliest and greatest examples of how to build a productive workforce with positive reinforcement on a massive scale. Building Pyramids in Ancient Egypt was a dangerous and sometimes deadly task which led historians to theorized that whoever built them must have been forced into it at the crack of a whip, but that all changed a few years ago when the tombs and living quarters of the workers were discovered. This revealed that the Pyramids were built by a workforce that was provided with housing and medical care while being paid with rations of 10 loafs of bread and one measure of beer per day. They were so well taken care of that economies of surplus rations developed and volunteers made up the majority of the workforce. There are still theories that some of the workers may have been required to work there as part of a random selection process similar to military conscription in which people get drafted, but even in such cases those people paid workers and not slaves. In closing the Pyramids were built by people who worked productively knowing that they would go home at night to a filling meal and a relaxing brew before bedtime. Treating workers well is the ticket to accomplishing great things because it can make all the difference between disgruntled slackers doing the minimum and a content staff working hard to earn a living.
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A Decade of Immigrant Gains and Citizen Losses

DayLaborNumbers — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 04:13:01 -07:00

According to the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) jobs for immigrants increased while jobs for native citizens decreased between the year 2000 and 2010. During that time period the number of immigrants working increased by 4.5 million while the number of native citizens working went down by 1.1 million. This decrease in jobs for Americans came as the number of working age Americans increased by 13.5 million compared to 6.5 million for immigrants. To sum this up in layman's terms it means that even though immigrants are nowhere close to breeding out the native born population of the United States more of them are working. This could be due to a number of things like them being willing to work for less money, selfish business owners who would rather pick up illegal aliens to do cheap work than pay an honest American, or maybe the Americans just don't feel like working anymore. The latter is highly unlikely, so obviously something needs to be done to fight this. One possible solution would be to require businesses to give preferences to Americans in the hiring process and only hire immigrants if qualified Americans cannot be found. This would limit immigrant workers to jobs nobody wants unless they are highly qualified and offer a skill (ex: doctor, rocket scientist) that companies have a hard time finding.
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Four Occupations Dominated by Immigrant Workers

DayLaborNumbers — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 02:59:25 -07:00

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released employment figures identifying four occupations dominated by immigrant workers in the United States. The numbers were for the years 2005 to 2007 and the occupations with percentages of immigrant workers are as follows: Plasterers & Stucco Masons - 56% Graders & Sorters, Agricultural Products - 54% Misc. Personal Appearance Workers - 53% Tailors, Dressmakers, & Sewers - 51% This may appear to be a horrible failure in immigration control, but it should be noted that not all immigrants in this study were illegal aliens and these occupations make up less than 1% of the American workforce. The study also concluded that most natives do not face significant competition from immigrants in the workplace with the exception of low skilled workers often competing for manual labor jobs similar to the ones dominated by immigrants.
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Dishwashers Don't Make Much Money

DayLaborNumbers — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 23:27:13 -07:00

Despite such low wages its hard to explain why restaurants still buy expensive machines to wash their dishes or maybe its the threat of job loss to such machines that have helped make these numbers so low. Either way dishwashers are making an average of just $8.98 per hour and a grand total of $18,680 per year. The vast majority of these low paid people work in full service restaurants.
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Farmworkers Make Low Wages

DayLaborNumbers — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 23:09:24 -07:00

Numbers from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics prove that wages for farm laborers are low. On average farm workers make just $9.64 an hour and bring in $20,040 per year. The vast majority of these workers at 78% provide support activities for crop production at an average rate of $9.33 and bring in $19,390 per year. These numbers make farmworkers some of the lowest paid workers in America.
Learn more: Farmworkers Make Low Wages