Have you ever thought about what would happen to your family if you were seriously injured at work? Putting yourself in peril is not a thought you most likely have when you leave home in the morning and go off to work. Most of us go to work assuming that we will return home uninjured at the end of our day.
If you are an employer, installing Sitenet safety nets on your construction site will give you peace of mind knowing that your site meets the Department of Labour Health & Safety best practice for working at height in New Zealand. Safety nets allow greater mobility around a construction site with fewer restrictions, which means your workers can move around safely with any potential hazards minimised. This results in a more effective and efficient workflow and allows tasks to be achieved more quickly.
You are responsible for providing a safe and healthy workplace for your workers. No one wants to come face to face with a worst case scenario. Being prepared for a worst case scenario is not a new idea and neither is preventing the worst from happening. Your best practice is safety first. It is important to keep employees safe and keep costs down by creating a safe work environment. If you can increase the safety confidence in your workforce you will see increased productivity. A Sitenet safety net automatically gives you and your workers the confidence that they are being looked after and their safety is paramount.
On the other hand, if you are an employee, Sitenet safety nets are for your protection. Accidents happen in a split second and are never planned. If you were to fall from scaffolding or a roof and there were no safety nets – your predicament is dire. Have you considered the what-ifs should your worksite not have safety nets?
- If you are injured, much of your care will probably depend on the support of your family. You may find that you are fully dependant on family for transportation, care, communication with companies, and emotional support. Your spouse or other family members may not be the most compassionate people in the world when it comes to taking care of you if you are injured – especially if they know you could have avoided the injury in the first place.
- If you are injured, the psychological impacts can be significant for you and your family. Workers that are injured on the job are often angry, depressed, and stressed. Unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, excessive use of alcohol, or drug abuse can result.
- A seriously injured worker often can no longer function normally. Often these individuals cannot perform routine activities or are limited in their capacity to perform personal or domestic functions. Picture yourself not being able to walk across the room or hold your child or to take care of your own needs.
- Depending upon many factors such as time to recover and the completeness of the recovery, a worker may have to be temporarily placed in an assignment that will let him or her return to work or the injured worker may be permanently disabled and unable to return to work in any capacity. The impacts are not desirable: loss of income, loss of sense of belonging, and loss of productive contribution.
- If you are injured, the economic impact to you and your family can be extreme. Depending on the severity of your injury, an injured worker may be faced with a minimal or quite significant economic impact. A worker who is not permanently disabled due to injury is estimated to lose around $8000 in income per injury over a 10-year period. Some workers mistakenly think that ACC will cover their expenses if they are injured. While certain medical costs and a portion of income are covered, an injured worker’s expenses are often much higher after an injury. Additionally, the injured worker’s spouse may have to give up a job or reduce work hours to help provide care.
Safety nets are the most efficient and cost effective fall protection barrier. Everyone’s goal at the end of the day is to return home safe to their loved ones. Accidents happen. We all know this to be true. But having a Sitenet safety net installed on your site gives you the peace of mind that your safety is put first.