A Rand Corporation survey released this week sheds light on working conditions in the United States, and results are mixed.

On one hand, significant numbers of respondents reported physically taxing, unpleasant and potentially hazardous conditions. On the other hand, most reported positive feelings toward their bosses and colleagues.

The report is based on a nationally representative sample of participants in the American Working Conditions Survey, fielded in 2015.

The bad news: Workers report physical exertion, safety hazards

According to the report:

• 60 percent of respondents reported engaging in one or more of the following activities: moving heavy loads or people at least 25 percent of the time, maintaining tiring or painful positions at least 25 percent of the time or standing almost all or all of the time
• 75 percent reported using repetitive hand/arm movements at least 25 percent of the time
• 44 percent reported sitting all or almost all of the time
• 55 percent reported exposure to at least one unpleasant and potentially hazardous working condition such as vibrations from hand tools or machinery; loud noise; extreme temperatures; breathing in fumes, smoke, powder or dust; handling chemicals or handling infectious materials
• 20 percent reported experiencing some form of hostility at work such as verbal abuse, threats, humiliation, unwanted sexual attention, bullying, harassment or physical violence
• 66 percent reported working at high speeds, tight deadlines or both at least half the time

Nearly all of these conditions can increase the risk of work injuries. For a big-picture look, read our past blog post: Four signs that you genuinely value workplace safety.

The good news about U.S. working conditions

It wasn’t all bad! Most respondents reported supportive social conditions at work.

According to the report:

• 58 percent of respondents said they have a supportive boss
• 78 percent said they like and respect their colleagues
• 78 percent said they have good cooperation with their colleagues
• 57 percent said conflicts are resolved fairly

This is good news since research shows that workplace friendships generate employee satisfaction, and employee happiness at work contributes to higher productivity.

If a work injury does occur, good working relationships between managers and employees are especially important.

For more details on the survey, visit the Rand Corporation website .

Cleanliness is next to godliness, the saying goes. In construction, cleanliness reduces risk of injury.

Proper housekeeping is an important part of keeping your construction site safe and avoiding OSHA penalties. Accidents such as trips and falls, being struck by falling objects and cutting or puncturing the skin can often be avoided by keeping a jobsite neat and organized.

Here are some guidelines to create a safer workplace:

• Clean up debris
  Keep all walking and working surfaces clean and clear of debris. Clean as you go to prevent build-up of debris and to minimize the amount of time needed to clean a larger mess at the end of the day. Watch for debris in stairwells.
• Pay attention to proper storage
  Identify designated areas for storing tools and materials. Out-of-place objects such as leaning lumber, plywood and other materials can cause trips and falls. Stack materials orderly and secure them so they won’t fall.
• Eliminate hazards
  Clear away protruding pipes, lumber, rebar or other materials that could cause injury. Bend over or remove nails that are sticking out of lumber. Provide adequate lighting.
• Keep extension cords clear of walkways
  Extension cords and airlines should be elevated, if possible, out of walkways, or covered with lumber or plywood. When not in use, coil up and neatly store.

More resources:

• General housekeeping for construction SIT
• General housekeeping for construction 5-minute solution – English
• General housekeeping for construction 5-minute solution – Spanish

Injuries from “distracted walking” have more than doubled since 2004, and surveys have shown that 60 percent of pedestrians are distracted by other activities while walking as well, according to a 2015 report by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons .

The study also shows that distracted walking is resulting in people falling down stairs, tripping over curbs, and stepping into traffic, causing cuts, bruises, sprains, and fractures. Walking while distracted can also cause you to miss potential hazards like ice, snow or a change in the walking surface, putting you at risk for a fall.

To avoid distracted walking accidents at your workplace, encourage employees:

• NOT to use cell phones, tablets or other devices while walking
• NOT to read documents while walking
• NOT to carry more than they can handle safely
• To take it slow when they see snow
• To stay focused on their path and their end goal
• To wear proper footwear

Encourage your employees to watch each other’s backs. When employees see coworkers being distracted by cell phones, stress or other factors, encourage them to help each other get back on track and focused. Showing you care is often a very effective safety measure.

There are many things supervisors can do to promote safety in the workplace and awareness among employees. Start by being a good example and practicing what you preach. Avoiding distractions yourself will go a long way. Hang SFM’s Don’t be distracted posters as reminders, and check out SFM’s other free downloadable safety resources.

Don’t miss your moment

We also have a series of short videos demonstrating what people can miss going on around them when distracted.

This post was originally published on January 24, 2014, and updated on June 30, 2017.

It’s easy to say “safety first.” It’s tougher to truly carry it out.

Here are a few signs that you and your organization practice what you preach when it comes to employee safety:

• Your workflow expectations match your safety doctrine.
  Your production quotas aren’t so high, nor deadlines so tight that workers have to cut corners on safety to meet them. You’ve tested and verified that it is possible to meet expectations while following all of the proper safety procedures. One way to test this: if you catch a frontline employee violating your safety rules, ask why. You might learn that the employee feels the need to carry too much at once or skip putting on safety equipment in order to meet production goals.
• All leaders consistently communicate the company’s safety expectations to staff.
  Safety procedures are part of new-hire training, and then reiterated and expanded upon regularly by supervisors. Safety is mentioned often — a regular topic in staff meetings. Employees know if they break safety rules, their supervisors won’t look the other way. The communication isn’t limited to words. Employees see that their supervisors follow the safety rules, too.
• You analyze your safety programs to make sure they’re working.
  Just like you’d analyze any other process change or company initiative to make sure it’s giving you the desired results, you evaluate your safety efforts periodically to see if they’re working. You make changes as necessary to improve your results. Safety initiatives aren’t rolled out and then forgotten. You remind your staff about ongoing safety programs regularly to keep them top of mind.
• Your workplace is an environment of mutual respect.
  Since employees often know best the safety risks and challenges of their jobs, your company fosters an atmosphere in which employees feel comfortable informing leadership when there’s an issue or opportunity for improvement. Similarly, employees respect their leaders enough to follow company safety rules.

Management sets the tone for employee safety. Employees can tell the difference between a management team that just says “safety first” and one that really means it, and their behavior will follow suit.

Want to make your workplace safer, but unsure where to start? Or maybe you want to be sure you have all the basics covered before you delve deeper in a certain area.

Either way, these seven essentials, identified by SFM’s loss prevention staff, will help make your organization a safer place to work.

1. Know the hazards

To reduce your risk of work-related injury or illness, you must first know the particular hazards of your job or workplace.

Help identify hazards by downloading this free workplace safety analysis checklist . You can also learn about risks by analyzing all workplace injuries to find the root causes and asking your staff for input.

2. Reduce workplace stress

Job stress has been linked to health problems, higher health care costs, increased risk of workplace accidents and more. Take steps to prevent stress from interfering with employees’ productivity, health and well-being with these strategies to reduce stress in the workplace.

3. Get up and move

Encourage employees to take breaks and move around regularly throughout the day. Simply working in small breaks for movement can make a big difference in combating the dangers of staying in a static position all day long.

4. Pay attention to ergonomics

Use ergonomically designed furniture and equipment , and rearrange work areas to maintain a neutral posture and keep everything within easy reach.

5. Use safe lifting techniques

Use four safe moves when picking up and carrying heavy loads: Lift from a position of power, keep the load close to your body, use a staggered stance and don’t twist.

And watch the weight — the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommends limiting manual lifting to a maximum of 35 pounds for the average person. Check out more safe lifting techniques or our lifting safety video  to see the technique in action.

6. Ensure employees wear personal protective equipment

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) can dramatically reduce risk of injury if worn correctly. Examples of PPE include gear such as earplugs, hard hats, safety goggles, gloves, full-face masks and safety shoes.7. Encourage employees to speak up.

Ask for input from employees often, and ensure everyone feels comfortable bringing safety hazards to their supervisors’ attention.

7. Encourage employees to speak up

Ask for input from employees often, and ensure everyone feels comfortable bringing safety hazards to their supervisors’ attention.

Workplace safety matters to every industry

When we think about workplace safety, images of construction workers hanging off skyscrapers or power line technicians in cherry pickers often pop into our heads, but there are hazards in any workplace — even office environments.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , the top three causes of workplace injuries accounting for at least one day away from work in 2015 (the most recent statistics available) were:

• Slips, trips and falls
• Overexertion in lifting (such as a strain or sprain caused by lifting something too heavy)
• Contact with an object or equipment (being hit by something)

While some injuries might be unlikely in an office or other relatively low-risk environment, certainly a slip-and-fall or lifting injury is possible anywhere.

Reducing hazards as much as possible and training employees about the risks can go a long way toward prevention. SFM offers a number of free resources to prevent indoor slips and falls, winter slips and falls and lifting injuries.

Safety improvements and early return-to-work have carried many school districts insured by SFM to the head of the class.

Through years of consistent effort and working in partnership with SFM, school districts have seen their experience modification factors drop as much as 50 points over time.

In a big organization like a school district, getting everyone to support and cooperate with safety efforts is essential.

Turning around a trend of high losses can be challenging in school districts. But those who’ve done it have seen their efforts pay off in the form of lower workers’ compensation premiums, reduced need to hire substitutes and improved employee morale.

Return-to-work programs key to controlling costs

Implementing strong return-to-work programs has been a key factor in reducing losses for many school districts insured by SFM.

Having light-duty, transitional jobs identified in advance helped the South Washington County Schools get injured workers with medical restrictions back to work sooner, said Assistant Director of Human Resources Theresa Lenarz. The Cottage Grove, Minnesota-based district saw a 73-point e-mod drop over six years, reducing its workers’ compensation costs by tens of thousands of dollars.

Their go-to light-duty assignments include shredding paper, alphabetizing items in their student information center and helping out with special projects like laminating or cutting out paper items.

Injured workers tend to appreciate being able to return to work even when medical restrictions prevent them from doing their regular jobs, Lenarz said.

“By and large, they’re really excited because they want to transition back into work,” she said. “It gives them the opportunity to try something new while they’re recovering.”

Early return-to-work can have a significant impact on any organization’s e-mod. When injured employees return to work before the state’s waiting period ends, the claim is considered medical-only, and loss costs are discounted by 70 percent when calculating the e-mod.

Focus on major loss sources for safety improvements

School districts have also made great strides in safety by focusing on preventing the most common injuries.

In schools, which have big parking lots with multiple entrances, snow- and ice-related slips and falls are often a major risk.

The St. Louis County (Minnesota) Schools district, which saw a 45-point e-mod drop over six years, has worked to prevent winter slips and falls in many ways, said SFM Loss Prevention Specialist Joe Morin.

Examples of the district’s tactics include:

• Using proactive and responsive snow- and ice-control measures
• Educating staff on slip-and-fall prevention tactics during classroom safety education courses
• Posting SFM’s winter slip-and-fall prevention posters and other penguin campaign materials
• Providing custodians with traction footwear to prevent falls in slippery conditions
• Experimenting with liquid brine pretreatment

To help identify and address additional risk factors, SFM assists the district by conducting comprehensive site safety audits, workstation ergonomic evaluations and safety training. The district is very good about correcting any safety issues discovered, Morin said.

“They place a high value on safety and work together to make meaningful improvements,” Morin said. “Clearly, they’ve been very effective.”

Getting buy-in from employees helps make safety programs successful

In a big organization like a school district, getting everyone to support and cooperate with safety efforts is essential.

The Chisago Lakes School District, based in Lindstrom, Minnesota, would not have seen its e-mod drop 41 points over seven years if not for the support of the district’s superintendent, building principals, buildings and grounds directors and many more, said Director of Business Services Heide Miller.

“You’ve got to have support from the top down, and get everyone involved that you can,” Miller said. “It’s a district-wide effort. Everyone has a little part to play, and that really helps out.”

Roles might include giving safety talks in staff meetings, reporting or correcting unsafe conditions or simply wearing required personal protective equipment.

While e-mods don’t change overnight, they certainly can improve over time.

“The fact that organizations as complex as school districts can see reductions in their losses should be encouraging to all employers,” Morin said. “It shows that with persistent effort over time, it really is possible to see substantial and sustainable improvement.”

For health care workers, sometimes employee safety and patient safety seem to compete. But leaders at St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth believe the two go hand-in-hand.

“Our organization here is really mission-driven and patient-focused,” said Director of Rehab Brett Osborne. “If our nurses are injured and can’t serve the patients, then we’ve got a problem.”

As a side benefit of this patient-first mentality and focus on employee safety, St. Luke’s has been able to keep workers’ compensation costs in check.

Their experience modification factor reached a peak in 2007 of 1.36, but has been steadily dropping since then and is now just 0.63. And though their payroll has increased nearly 180 percent since 2006, claim frequency has consistently decreased from 3.35 claims per million dollars of payroll in 2006 to 1.62 claims per million dollars of payroll in 2016.

Focusing on lifting injuries

One key contributor to this decrease has been improvements in safe patient handling.

In 2007, St. Luke’s began working with Barrier Free Access , a provider of safe patient handling products and design consultation, to bring in new lifting equipment and staff training in an effort to cut down on staff injuries.

The lifts they were previously using were getting old and in need of replacement. St. Luke’s was also seeing more employee injuries from manual patient movement, driving up workers’ compensation costs.

Battling tradition

Getting new equipment was only part of the solution; St. Luke’s also had to change its lifting culture.

Nurses typically were not trained in school to use lifts and were instead in the habit of lifting and moving patients manually, increasing their chances of injury. To combat this, St. Luke’s made sure that each unit had nurses with extra training on the lifts called “super users” to act as advocates for their use and to help other staff become comfortable using the equipment.

“It’s one thing for the safety officer or the rehab director to talk to them, but when you’ve got a leader on your floor, somebody that’s really advocating for the lifts – that’s a key piece,” Osborne said.

All of the nursing staff is trained when new lifting equipment is brought in, but the super users from each unit receive longer training sessions and help to train the staff on their unit and to continue to advocate for the proper utilization of this equipment for safe patient handling. Super users receive an additional four hours of training on the equipment, situational uses, a few more “tips and tricks” and some troubleshooting of various situations that might occur and how to teach the staff.

To check that the training sessions were successful, they began holding Super Users Lunches. Each time equipment was installed in a new unit, all the super users would get together for lunch to provide feedback.

Training gurus and super users

As an additional measure to transition the staff into using lifts and other safe patient handling techniques, St. Luke’s began an annual Safe Patient Handling Week. Several staff members have been sent to Barrier Free Access, now an SFM subsidiary, to receive an additional one and a half days of high level lift training called Guru Training.

These gurus share their expertise in using the lifts and assist the rest of the staff during every shift on every unit. The gurus also encourage use of the lifts and show the staff ways to make moving patients easier.

Whenever more safe patient handling equipment is purchased and put out on the units, a safe patient handling week is held with the gurus used for additional targeted training on all units during every shift.

In addition, rehab staff in the past have been hesitant to incorporate the use of lifts, as it appears to be at odds with the goals of having the patients move themselves and eventually progress to independence. Involving key rehab staff from the beginning to devise a system for assessment and implementation combining the goals of safe movement using devices with eventual progression (as able) to have the patient safely move themselves also contributed to the success.

Getting the employees fully involved in the transition, allowing them to provide input and then incorporating feedback they provided proved to be essential to building a successful safe patient handling program.

“It’s a team effort,” said Safety Officer Mike Marturano. “Get a team together and identify where your issues are and move forward through that.”

Photo courtesy of St. Luke’s Hospital

Driving can be especially dangerous in snowy and icy weather.

Share these tips for safe winter driving with your employees:

• Increase your following distance.
  It takes longer to stop in wet and icy conditions, so you’ll need to increase your following distance beyond the standard 2-second rule.
• Slow down, and allow plenty of travel time.
  The faster you drive, the harder it becomes to stop, especially in slippery conditions. Allow plenty of time to get to your destination so you have no reason to rush.
• Accelerate and make turns slowly and cautiously.
  This prevents you from losing control of the vehicle.
• It’s OK to reschedule.
  Is it really necessary to travel across town in a snowstorm for a meeting that could easily be rescheduled? Use common sense.
• Prepare your vehicle.
  Ensure windows are scraped, all snow is brushed off (from the entire car, not just the windows), headlights are cleared, tire pressure is correct (go by the sticker on your doorframe, not the side of the tire), wipers are functioning and there’s windshield washer fluid in the reservoir.
• Perform proper vehicle maintenance.
  Make sure tires are in good condition and treads haven’t become flush with the treadwear indicator bars. Inspect and replace windshield wiper blades when needed.
• Be aware of black ice, especially at intersections.
  This ice is tough to see, and it can send you sliding.
• Turn on your headlights in poor conditions.
  This helps you see and be seen.
• Be careful on bridges and overpasses.
  They can be slippery even when other roads are not.
• Stay back from snowplows.
  Stay at least 300 feet behind a snowplow, and never pass one because they create clouds of snow that can cause low visibility.
• Keep an emergency kit in your car.
  Include a blanket, warm clothes, something for traction (such as road salt, sand or kitty litter), a shovel, a first aid kit, a flashlight, jumper cables, a battery-powered radio, snack foods, water, emergency flares or reflectors, a tow chain or rope and a way to power your cell phone in the winter emergency kit in your car.

Check the resource catalog for safety talks and other resources related to safe winter driving.

It would be tough to overstate how highly Iowa-based manufacturer Katecho prioritizes its employees’ safety.

This maker of medical and cosmetic products has taken so many measures to keep workers safe that Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials have asked to showcase its facility to other businesses.

“You walk in the door and it’s clear that this place is special,” said SFM Loss Prevention Specialist Jason Clausen.

That’s why the company sprang into action after learning that a change intended to boost efficiency had drastically increased the amount of weight employees would have to lift.

Their solution: building a fully customized machine that would do the lifting for them.

‘We had to find a way’

One of the products Katecho manufactures is the gel pads that go between a patient suffering a cardiac arrest and an automated external defibrillator (AED).

To produce those pads, Katecho first makes large rolls of hydrogel. The hydrogel rolls start as huge rolls of raw components. These component rolls are brought in on pallets, lifted, moved 75 feet to a hydrogel coating machine and then lifted again onto spindles as high as 6 feet. After the coating process, the finished hydrogel rolls are removed from the machine, bagged, sealed and boxed.

Seeking to boost production and meet customer needs, the company began using wider rolls of the hydrogel, a change that increased the weight of the rolls from 40 to 350 pounds.

“We had to find a way to get these rolls up on the spindles without hurting people,” said Katecho Director of Manufacturing Chris Gunsaulus.

As a stopgap measure, they had their supplier shorten each component roll’s length for a 100-pound weight reduction. They also made it a requirement that no fewer than three people work together to lift the rolls. They tried purchasing a roll lifter made for just such a task, but it didn’t fit into the spaces where they needed to use it.

Out of options, they started drawing up specifications for a custom-made machine, and worked to build and install it with a northern Iowa company called Positech that specializes in industrial manipulators.

Side-benefit: Increased efficiency

The manipulator was strictly an investment in safety; however, improved efficiency has been a side-benefit. There’s no time wasted gathering everyone together and struggling to change rolls — a savings of up to two hours per day.

“It’s just made life a lot easier for us,” said machine operator Dan Chamberlain. “It’s definitely less strenuous on your muscles and your back.”

Despite the significant expense, Gunsaulus said they met no resistance from management in moving ahead with the plan to custom-build the machine.

“It’s really important that our people go home at night in the same state they came in,” he said. “People are here to earn a paycheck, not put their lives and limbs at risk.”

See video of the machine in action:

Elk River, Minnesota-based U.S. SiteWork in earthwork, excavation, underground utility construction, drilled piers/deep foundations and demolition for large projects such as industrial oil and gas sites, agricultural terminals, tank farms and railroad embankments. The organization was founded in 2012 by five seasoned professionals and places a major focus on safety. We talked with CEO Bart Anderson about why safety is so important to the organization.

(Conversation edited for length and clarity.)

You’ve stated that your primary mission as a company is safety. How did you arrive at that philosophy?

The safety focus of the industry has changed a lot in the last 15 or 20 years. In my past experience, even though my previous company had a great focus on safety, there were still guys in the field that hadn’t quite bought into the new safety culture that was coming from the top. It was a challenge over there, and I thought that we’re going to start this company and we’re going to put safety culture at the forefront of everything we do. Everybody we hire, we’re going to try to get the safety culture right in the beginning, and if the people we’re hiring don’t have the right mindset toward safety and dedication to it, then we don’t really want them working here. The five people that started this company, we didn’t start it to get people hurt. We started it to do it different, to try and do it better, and to set ourselves apart, and safety is one of those ways we try to set our company apart from the competition.

How do you hire for safety?

We’ll ask them some certain questions about their experience. Have they put a job hazard analysis together? What did they think of the safety culture at the previous company they worked at? Do they think it could be better and what would they change? Asking about five to eight questions like that, you can get a good feel for what kind of safety aptitude that certain individual has.

We’ve heard the strong economy is making it tough to find good employees. How do you find employees without lowering your standards?

It’s not a perfect process, but 99 percent of our employees get it. They understand the safety focus. They understand the dedication that we want all our crews to have every day. If we get new hires, we have a mentoring process where our experienced employees will work with them very closely. We watch them very closely the first two to three weeks they work here to see if they actually practice what they are preaching.

What are the practical things you do to keep workers safe?

We do safety training frequently throughout the year internally with our supervisors and our foremen. We try to get each one of them trained to a level where we could consider them a full-fledged safety director. From there you have to get every single person buying into zero injuries every day. The way we try to accomplish that is with a good, thorough job hazard analysis (JHA) every morning, and before every task. If we switch tasks throughout the day, we might do two or three JHAs. Each task is different, the job site changes as the day goes on, and we want to make sure we’ve analyzed all the hazards on the job site correctly so we can put in the proper mitigation techniques and methods to properly manage all those hazards.

Do you look at your safety program in terms of return on investment?

I think that’s kind of a gray area. It’s hard to calculate that. Some people have the mindset that all these safety measures cost production and cost contractors money, and I completely disagree with that. I think the safer you are and the more planned out your jobs are, the better they will run and the more production that you will get, and safety is a huge part of that. A better plan and better executed project should also be a safer project.

What’s your advice for other business leaders who want to make their workplaces safer?

If you’re going to walk the talk, you have to become educated in what makes a great safety culture and what will facilitate great safety performance. I read a ton of articles. I’ve been to a ton of seminars. I’ve been fortunate to work for some really great, safe companies that have taught me a lot. The industry and the clients that I’ve had over my career have driven me to try to be a safety expert. I don’t feel that I’m a safety expert, but I work hard to try to make myself more knowledgeable about safety and more savvy about safety every day.

This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.