There are many, many ways you can injure yourself at work, but the National Safety Council (NSC) found that there are seven common safety hazards that are spotted over and over again. 

It shouldn’t be a surprise that working at height is at the top of the list. Issues related to scaffolding and ladders are among the most frequently cited violations. NSC consultant JoAnn Dankert said hazards associated with working at height can originate from a lack of understanding. Employers may not know they have to provide fall protection or the fall protection gear may not be worn properly or not hooked up to anything. Some employers don’t even have a written fall protection procedure or process.

Another common issue is poor housekeeping. Imagine there’s a pile of things blocking the emergency exits or crumbling ceilings and leaking water that no one takes care of; all of this can contribute to slips and falls. Things like that just invite trouble and increase the risk of injury. 

Not to mention other threats like allergens, biological agents, and chemicals. According to another NSC consultant, Rachel Harrington, when an organization purchases and uses chemicals, it needs to have a control system and know why they were ordered and when to use them.

The most important things when it comes to preventing slips, trips, and falls are making sure that the flooring is intact, spills are cleaned and blind spots are covered with warning signs or mirrors.

Also, there’s always the issue of fire hazards. Employees should make sure that flammable materials are always kept in designated locations. 

Next, we have electrical – extension cords. Dankert often witnesses “daisy-chaining” – using multiple extension cords or power strips for a device. At one manufacturing facility Dankert visited, she saw as many as five extension cords chained together.

“It was almost like Christmas tree lights,” she said. “All you really saw were all these electrical cords everywhere.”

Although extension cords can be useful for temporarily supplying power for certain operations, the key word is “temporarily.” When a cord is used for several weeks or months, Dankert said, OSHA doesn’t consider the use temporary. This opens the door for a violation.

Beyond that, extension cords lying on the ground for extended periods of time are a trip hazard. They also can be subject to traffic abuse if run over by forklifts or feet, which can wear down insulation and create shock hazards. When cords are daisy-chained, they can easily overdraw electricity from the circuits, causing the wires to heat up and potentially result in a fire.

Forklifts are another common problem. More specifically, trying to work them quickly. When workers are under pressure, they're searching for shortcuts, which include driving with too large of a load or driving distracted. The end result may be hitting a rack, damaging a wall or product, or even injuring a co-worker.

Moving on, lockout/tagout. These procedures can help prevent serious injuries, but only if they are followed.

Violation of lockout/tagout procedures often boils down to three reasons:

• Complacency;
• A rush to finish the work;
• Being unfamiliar with the equipment.

A lot of organizations have the best procedures in place, but it’s the implementation that fails.

Chemicals can be expensive, and workers in some industries may never know when they’ll need to use them, but this kind of thinking can lead to serious hazards. Before you know it, you have all these materials no one wants or needs.

It may be easy to overlook a small, 5-gram bottle, but those 5 grams can become unstable over time. When an organization purchases and uses chemicals, it needs to have a control system. It needs to know what the chemicals are for and why they were ordered.

Another potential hazard is transferring them from one container to another. Even if employees feel comfortable doing it and have performed these tasks for years, the containers must be labeled as required under the hazcom standard.

Finally, we come to confined spaces. They can present a number of hazards, and many tragedies involving confined spaces have occurred because an employer didn’t issue a permit or failed to carry out a risk assessment.

If the risk assessment and permit process are done correctly, and all steps are followed, employers shouldn't have a problem.

The NSC consultants stress that the seven hazards presented are by no means an exhaustive list. And as you can see in the pictures, many other hazards can exist at a worksite, and spotting them requires vigilance.