In 2017, health and safety within our company
have clearly become a top priority. But is safe behaviour only a workplace
concern? As a company, we obviously cannot control what employees do at home,
but living safely is not limited to their work life. They must develop
spontaneous safety reflexes and use these at all times! Here are a few examples
of necessary reflexes in the workplace that can also be transferred to home.
Storing chemicals in
compliance with the regulations in force
Chemical products abound in our homes: household
cleaners, paint, automotive compounds and other maintenance products. Good
habits to develop at home are checking the storage methods specified and the interactions
between products you may have, to ensure compliance with the relevant
regulations. By taking time to validate the products in your home and keeping
them in a safe place, you ensure your own safety and that of family members!
Wearing personal protective
equipment (PPE)
Many jobs you do around the house require the
use of personal protective equipment (PPE): safety shoes, gloves, goggles, masks,
harnesses, etc. Unfortunately, the good practices required at ENGIE Services may
not always be followed at home. Yet personal protective equipment could prove
very useful for all types of chores: painting a room, sawing lumber, replacing
roofing, drilling in walls, doing maintenance on your lawn or swimming pool. The
next time you visit a store to buy tools or other equipment, remember to pick
up basic PPE (gloves, masks, goggles) and ensure that you always have a pair of
safety shoes at home!
Good practices when
handling loads
How many household moves have you done in
recent years? Have you rearranged the furniture in your home? When you return
home from a big box store, do you have to carry large, heavy items or bags of
groceries on your own? In brief, when you perform work that requires you to
lift heavy items, do you consider the basic principles that must be followed on
the job? These are: ask for help if the item is too heavy or too large, use the
leg muscles to lift items from the floor, always hold loads close to the body, avoid
twisting your back and ensure that your feet are always pointed in the same
direction as your body. Use handling equipment when moving a load over a large distance!
Remember, you are just as much at risk of injury in the home as at work if you
disregard how you handle heavy loads.
These are just a few examples of the safety
reflexes that apply in the home as well as the workplace. The next time you’re
getting ready to do chores around the house, I encourage you to think carefully
before you start and ensure that you have taken every precaution to be totally
safe!
Contributor:
Caroline Paquette
Health and Safety Advisor