What are the 4 Themes for National Safety Month 2023?

(Originally published from Grainger)

Injury prevention never takes a holiday, but each June leading health and safety organizations in the U.S. collaborate to raise awareness even higher during National Safety Month. Understanding where preventable injuries are likely to emerge and arming your workplace and employees with the tools to get ahead of those situations are key to helping everyone get home safely at the end of the day.

Review these resources for each of the four weeks of emphasis of National Safety Month 2023 and share them with team members across your organization.

Week 1: Disaster Preparedness

Tornadoes, hurricanes and floods are chaotic events. One way to help people remain calm in the midst of a disaster is through planning. Checklists for before, during and after these events can assist with organization and provide grounding in the moment. Break these checklists into four phases:

• Phase 1: Mitigation
• Phase 2: Disaster Preparation
• Phase 3: Response
• Phase 4: Recovery

Week 2: Slips, Trips and Falls

These remain one of the most common causes of non-fatal injuries that cause people to miss work; there were an average of 235,000 per year between 2016-19 according to data compiled by the National Safety Council.

These six tips might help create an environment to limit slips trips and falls. If you’d like to dive in behind the numbers to understand some trends impacting falls and working at elevated heights, four Grainger Field Safety Specialists provide insights into what the see when going Beyond the OSHA Top 10.

Week 3: Heat-Related Illness

Heat waves in the U.S. have increased in frequency and intensity since the 1960s, increasing the threat of heat-related illnesses to workers both indoors and out. Help workers understand and identify the difference among heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke via this infographic. Before any of those illnesses take hold, employers can use any number of tools to help cool off work environments.

Week 4: Hazard Recognition

Identifying workplace hazards is not always straightforward. Equipment, materials and processes are just some of the factors that each can contribute to one or more hazards. There are a series of systematic methods that can help identify and control workplace hazards.