Let’s start with some facts. For the 135 million full-time American workers (Labor Department report, September 2025) injuries occur an average of six times per minute, 350 times per hour, or a total of 8,000 times per day throughout the country. Annually that amounts to approximately 3 million reported incidents. Sadly, some injuries result in death, but thankfully the majority are not life-threatening, even though they bring burdens of short- and long-term physical pain and financial stress. In order of frequency, here are the types of non-lethal injuries that plague our workplaces.
- Slips, Trips, and Falls
- Muscle Strains
- Impact Injuries
- Repetitive Strain Injury
- Cuts and Lacerations
- Overexertion
- Electrical Shocks
- Falls from Heights
- Workplace Violence
- Motor Vehicle Accidents
“Heightened safety awareness and precautionary measures bring a very positive effect,” says Jennifer Simms, Owner, Paul Davis Restoration of Bowling Green, Kentucky. “I believe accidents, while not inevitable, can be better managed and minimized when you marry good instincts, thoughtful considerations and maintain a well-informed workforce. Everyone in our company takes responsibility for safety for themself and for everyone else. The idea is to help our people understand and practice their safety culture in our facility, traveling to and from customers’ jobsites, and especially when performing our onsite mitigation and restoration work.”
“Safety experts find that when everyone looks after themselves, when supervisors and managers at every level take responsibility for safety, and when all involved parties take collective action as teams, and believe safety is vital to the long-term success of the organization, a zero-injury rate is an achievable goal.” Simms makes safety a focal point each and every morning and all day. “Slowly but surely, you will create a safer work environment for employees,” she says. “Company-wide at Paul Davis Restoration, we all agree that safety in the workplace starts with clearly explaining our strong culture of workplace safety. This is critical for our construction-industry focused business. It’s not something that happens overnight; it requires time, dedication, and sometimes help from the outside: our vendors, contractors and others share the burden, too.”
After committing to a safety culture, the next safety step for any company is to identify the many potential hazards that exist in the workplace. This requires a thorough in-house inspection of every job function and task that’s performed. Do your best to identify everything that could possibly go wrong and lead to an accident or injury, no matter how big or small. Understand the potential causes of accidents and make it an ongoing process; meaning employees also need to be able to speak up to openly identify and report potential hazards. The sad truth about workplace accidents and injuries is that many could have been prevented. A key safety step for every company is assessing that every tool, piece of equipment, appropriate protective gear and safety device, is operated correctly and safely to perform tasks. Checking that workers are performing daily operations with safety in mind should be re-evaluated regularly because it can be so critical in preventing injuries.
Other important safety procedures include double-checking equipment and machinery frequently, encouraging experienced and new workers to talk about good safety, creating a schedule for safety meetings, and tracking progress. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), developing a strong workplace safety culture has the single greatest impact on accident reduction of any workplace practice. In fact, data from OSHA shows that implementing safety measures resulted in a decrease of worker injuries and illnesses – from 10.9 incidents per 100 workers in 1972 to 2.3 per 100 in 2023.
Training and preparedness are two critical factors in creating a safe workplace. Employees need to be trained on the safe ways to perform their tasks and the steps they need to take to ensure everyone’s safety. Safety meetings serve as reminders for that training, as well as a progress report for how successful everyone is following safety protocols. Safety drills should be held periodically to make workers more prepared to handle an emergency situation, even if your other safety steps are designed to prevent such occurrences. Another vital priority on the safety front should be to set safety goals and track your progress. Obviously, meeting all OSHA regulations should be a goal, but it’s fine to set more ambitious goals, or safety goals specific to your particular industry. Most employees will respond better to clearly explained, achievable objectives.
