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2.
OCCUPATIONAL INJURY
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A wide variety of injuries can occur on the
job. At NMSU the majority of reported incidents fall into the following categories:
-Back
injuries and other sprains/strains
-Slips,
trips, and falls
-Cuts and
abrasions
Injury prevention depends upon job-knowledge,
using equipment properly, recognizing hazards, and a safe-work attitude. Specific
training, based on equipment manuals and written standard operating procedures, is
required to obtain task and equipment knowledge.
Hazard recognition is a learned skill of
identifying where and how safety problems can occur. Job experience and good
observation are important characteristics of hazard recognition. A person with a
safe-work attitude has an ability which is developed individually and is continually
reinforced by management. Persons working with a safe-work attitude perform their
work in a safe manner while eliminating known high risk activities.
Methods to prevent occupational injury include
the following:
þ
Don't
take chances or shortcuts,
þ
Know how
to use hazardous materials and equipment,
þ
Take
responsibility for personal safety,
þ
Be
observant,
þ
When in
doubt, ask!
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