Nonroutine work activities and high-energy injury sources in workplaces

Workplace Injuries

Injuries at workplace

The problem of injuries at workplace has been a challenge to eradicate from many workplaces. There have been significant steps taken to reduce the injuries and increase the employee general safety through the stiff stipulations put by the OSHA and their subsidy programs like the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). They set safety standards that should be followed within the workplace and carry out regular inspection of the premises to ensure the safety standards are upheld (United States Department of Labor, 2013).

However, there are several cases of injuries that are still experienced within the workplace. Fred Manuele (n.d:51) indicates that most of the injuries experienced at work are manifest in situations that are unusual and non-routine work, in non-production activities, and where sources of high energy are present. These claims are true and the conclusion was based on a research that was conducted among 1,200 reported incidents that were put under investigation. This is a situation that is possible bearing the employees are normally equipped to handle the routine jobs and are trained to adequately handle their routine jobs with ease and safety. When the non-routine engagements come in, they are a challenge and the employees have no idea of the dangers it portends and most likely, they will handle it with too much effort.

At my workplace, which is a store for one of the large chain stores in the region, this is a common happening. There are display stands all over the floor, we are used to displaying items on them on a daily basis. The highest peak of injuries therefore does not happen on our daily working routine, but during the annual clearance sale. This is due to the fact that we have to rearrange the entire showroom for the highly packed with customers three weeks event. There is usually the tradition of restructuring the entire showroom. This activity taxes us in terms of energy and involves moving the display stands to various locations. Many of us are not accustomed to shifting these heavy display stands and it is not part of the routine. This has resulted in various injuries to the hands and legs and at times as serious as shelves falling one people. There are no protective gears given since the organization cannot buy protective gears that will be used twice in a year; during arranging and returning them to normal after the sale.