Workplace Safety in Texas

Workplace safety in Texas is something that you should have a great interest in if you live and work in this state. This is the place where you probably spend at least 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week or more. This alone makes your safety in the workplace in Texas to be of great importance.

The place where you work is probably not the same as where your father worked a generation ago. The primary focus used to be on manufacturer’s production lines or moving materials within a shipping, receiving or storage area. Repetitive action or motion was what businesses depended on to produce a product.

The workplace of today has expanded far beyond the assembly line. The workplace of today also involves mobility. It now involves the highways and byways that crisscross the United States.

This is certainly true in Texas. In Texas, your workplace can be in a building or an office, but it can also be on the streets and highways of this great state.

What constitutes a workplace in Texas? How is it defined? A workplace is by definition, “a place where commerce is conducted.” This means that any place where work is conducted can be your workplace. Your workplace can be an office, building or motor vehicle.

What, then, is meant by workplace safety in Texas? Workplace safety refers to the working environment at the place where you work. Workplace safety encompasses all of the factors that impact your health, safety and well being while you work.

Workplace safety in Texas can involve a lot of things. It can include workplace violence, unsafe working conditions or processes, drug and alcohol abuse and environmental hazards.

Workplace safety is governed at the national level by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The cornerstone of OSHA’s policies and regulations are seen in its three stated goals.

• Improve the safety and health for all workers, as evidenced by fewer hazards, reduced exposures, and fewer injuries, illnesses and fatalities

• Change workplace culture to increase employer and worker awareness of, commitment to and involvement in safety and health

• Secure public confidence through excellence in the development and delivery of OSHA’s programs and services.

The federal guidelines of OSHA are complemented by state regulations in Texas. In Texas, the Workers’ Health and Safety Division of the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission provides assistance with workplace safety and health issues to employers, employees, and workers’ compensation insurance carriers and policyholders.

In Texas, these regulations are aimed at promoting the safety and health of Texas workers in their workplace. Texas workplace regulations are designed so that employers will furnish Texas workers with a workplace that is free of recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to the employees.

How important is workplace safety? How big of an issue is it? What can be done to improve and enhance workplace safety? These are all important questions regarding workplace safety in Texas.

Workplace safety in Texas is a large and important issue. This can be seen in some workplace safety statistics for the state of Texas. In 2005, Texas led the nation with 490 work-related deaths. This was 12.5% more work-related deaths than in 2004. During 2004, 254,000 Texans suffered illness or injury in their workplace that led to time away from work, long-term care and therapy, financial hardship and pain and suffering.

The importance of workplace safety in Texas can also be seen in the indirect costs of an accident that take into effect the sometimes immeasurable costs of lost efficiency and production on a company-wide basis. Some of these costs are:

• Training replacement workers

• Replacement or repair of damaged equipment or materials.
• Overtime to make up for loss of production
• Wages for lost time of uninjured workers

Workplace safety in Texas is important because you need to feel comfortable and safe in order to do your job well. It should be obvious that your production will be hindered if you feel threatened, anxious, worried or unsafe in your Texas workplace.

Workplace safety in Texas is important because it affects more than just the worker who is injured. It also affects the friends and family of that worker. A debilitating injury or death in the workplace can have a devastating affect on family and friends.

The most important resource an employer has is human resource. The importance of workplace safety in Texas can also be seen in the loss of a worker either temporarily or permanently.

Realizing the enormous importance of workplace safety in Texas, what can be done to improve and enhance workplace safety in this state? Are there things that can be done to make the workplace safer?

The answer to these questions is that there are things that can be done to enhance and improve workplace safety in Texas. Some of the things that can be done are:

• Violence in the Texas workplace must be dealt with and eliminated. Management must establish strict measures to prevent acts of violence at work. Safety from ill-treatment, torture or harassment from other employees is the responsibility of management.

• Safety training programs that teach employees how to handle the risks and dangers involved in their work should be set up.

• Safety policies and procedures should be implemented to teach employees how to do their work and handle tools and machinery in a safe, responsible way.

• Implement an ongoing study and analysis of the accidents that happen in order to know where the greatest risks and likelihoods are for accidents so that steps can be taken to prevent them.
• Setting up safety goals will be a constant reminder to employees of the need for safety in the workplace.
• The importance and emphasis that a company puts on the safety of its employees can be shown by the formation of a safety committee that is assigned the responsibility of workplace safety.

The issue of workplace safety in Texas may be vitally important to you. You may have been injured at your workplace in Texas.