Santa's Workshop Reins In On Injuries
It wasn’t always safety first at Santa’s workshop when the elves labored feverishly to finish all the toys needed for the big night.
There was the time Dingle chipped a front tooth when he lost hold of the small wood chisel he was sharpening on the bench grinder. With no face shield available and the tool rest and tongue guard not adjusted properly, the chisel became a projectile and glanced off his mouth. Fortunately, Herbie came to his aid and applied a tooth crown. And then there was the group of tall elves that constantly complained of neck and upper back pain from stooping over the low workbenches. Finger cuts were commonplace and combustible wood dust accumulated to near dangerous levels for the lack of an adequate dust collection system.
This all changed as the big guy, stressed to the point of losing weight and tired of the missus nagging him to “Eat, Papa, eat!” finally put his foot down and called a meeting to order. “We need to take action!” he exclaimed, asking for input on ideas to improve workplace safety. One of the elves piped up having caught wind of the news that MEMIC offers an abundance of online safety resources to its policyholders.
Soon after contacting his agent and signing up, a wonderful turn of events happened making Santa the jolly fellow that we’ve come to know. A safety committee was started after viewing the Safety Committee Webinar in the Webinars on Demand section of the MEMIC Safety Director. Workbench heights were adjusted after taking advantage of the E-Ergo Request tool. Weekly safety toy box talks were initiated using the Safety Net blog articles to educate the elves on a wide array of safety topics. Personal protective equipment including cut resistant gloves was provided upon using the PPE Hazard Evaluation Form available in the resource library. And of course, the use of a shaky stepladder to top the tree with a shiny star was abandoned when Bumble joined the team.
MEMIC encourages all of its policyholders to take full advantage of its online resources including the Safety Director, Video Lending Library, Safety Net Blog, and Workshops & Webinars to foster a safer workplace. To get started, go to MEMIC's Workplace Safety page.
