Working with animals comes with many risks. They may attack a worker resulting in minor or serious injuries, and the noise they make can damage a worker’s hearing. They can also carry and transmit viruses and diseases that aren’t just a danger to the workers they’re in contact with but also to other people on the job site.
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As an employer, it is your responsibility to ensure the safety of your workers and reduce these risk factors. Below you’ll see the different controls you can implement at your workplace, in order of effectiveness.
- Substitution
The most effective risk control is fully eliminating the hazard by substituting a safer procedure. With this option, you should consider providing mechanical means or automation to keep workers away from the animals that might pose a threat to their safety.
- Engineering Controls
Modifications to the facility such as redesigning the animal enclosures to eliminate any possible cause of danger and providing a fast access to an emergency exit in case of dire situations are some of the potential modifications you should consider.
- Administrative Controls
As an employer, you can create policies with a specific set of guidelines that will help to ensure your workers’ safety. You should also provide training for them with topics like understanding animal behavior and safety procedures when working around animals. Lastly you should have supervisors in place to ensure the employees are following the guidelines.
- Personal Protective Equipment
This is only effective when paired with another control method stated above, yet it’s still an important part of any work setting. Wearing the proper footwear, gloves, eyewear and respirators can limit the chances of potential issues that may include being bitten or being in contact with an infected animal’s body fluids.
To learn more about some steps you can take to keep your workers safe when their work involves animal handling, contact us!
Contact:
Working Safety Solutions
#200-4170 Still Creek Drive, Burnaby, B.C.
604-320-7850
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