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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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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.
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Study Shows Day Laborers Lack Online Resources

DayLabor.org — Wed, 18 May 2011 23:59:03 -07:00

A recent study conducted by DayLabor.org concludes that there is a significant lack in online resources for day laborers looking for work. Day laborers are typically thought of as low skilled workers who will do anything for a buck, but there are many skilled individuals who do manual and skilled labor during the day that could benefit from in increase in day labor resources on the internet. It doesn't take more than a few search engine queries to realize that there is little to nothing out there on the web catering to the needs of day laborers. All you find is a blend of academic research, government statistics, a few job service oriented websites, and a handful of anti-illegal alien sites. This leaves day laborers left with having to start their own site or use obsolete classified advertising services to promote themselves online. The new DayLabor.org aims to fill the online gap between day laborers standing on the corner waiting for work and employers who are so desperate to find workers that they will pick up any random dude they find on the street to do it. If successful this website will help employers connect with the labor they need ahead of time to assure them a higher level of quality work and convenience.
Learn more: Study Shows Day Laborers Lack Online Resources