Creating Safer Workplaces For Essential Workers
Enhancing safety measures is crucial in healthcare and education to protect essential workers and address rising safety concerns that contribute to high turnover rates.
When employees are seeking new career opportunities, the obvious considerations for accepting a job are salary, location and title. However, there’s another consideration that is relevant in today’s society: workplace safety. Safety for employees should be an aspect that all employers take extremely seriously across all industries. Education and healthcare specifically are lacking in reassuring employees of their physical safety. A 2022 survey stated that two-thirds of nurses (65 percent) reported they had been verbally or physically assaulted by a patient or a patient’s family member within the last year. Another 2022 survey reported that four in 10 educators feel less safe in their schools now than they did five years ago.
Both industries are experiencing high employee turnover and low employment rates which can be a direct cause of unsafe working environments and the lack of protection from employers.
In order to attract and retain talent, employers in both industries need to prioritize employee safety. Today there are many workplace safety solutions to choose from, but it can take time to know where to start or what options make the most sense for employees. There are various options and levels that employers can choose from. This includes but is not limited to security cameras, blueprint tools, alarm badges and cell phone apps.
Workplace Safety Concerns in Healthcare
In a field where employees’ everyday responsibilities include saving and protecting the lives of patients, healthcare workers should not have to constantly worry about their own safety as well. As frontline workers, healthcare staff are often put into vulnerable situations, and safety precautions must be put in place in case a situation escalates into something violent. Healthcare and social service workers are actually five times as likely to suffer a workplace violence injury than workers overall.
