Workplace Safety and Health Information for Employers
Health and safety is good for your bottom line
- Improving safety and health at your workplace can save your company money. Research shows that successful safety and health systems reduce the costs of injury and illness, and have a high return on investment.
- Healthy employees are more productive than sick workers.
- Showing your employees that you care about their health and safety, and the health of their families, can improve morale and employee retention.
Identify hazards in your workplace
Some workplace hazards are obvious, like machinery that can cause injury or chemicals that can be poisonous. When identifying hazards in your workplace, remember to include things like stress, working long hours, working night shifts, and noise. Once you have identified the hazards in your workplace, you can take steps to make your workplace safer.
Adequate ventilation in the workplace is one way to address some workplace hazards, including reducing the risk of airborne viruses and other contaminants. Read about the Clean Air in Buildings Challenge
Workplace hazards can also be biological, such as poisonous plants and insects, or environmental, like long-term heat or cold exposure. These hazards can potentially cause uncommon conditions, that if left undetected and untreated may lead to death. For example, blastomycosis is a disease caused by a fungus too small to see with the naked eye. This fungus resides in dirt and soil, making it a potential hazard in outdoor workspaces. The fact sheet, Blastomycosis: Employers and Workers, P-03246 (available in English, Hmong, and Spanish), contains more information, including what symptoms to look out for and how to prevent your workers from being exposed to the fungus that causes blastomycosis.
Diseases are another type of workplace hazard. While some diseases spread from person-to-person, some diseases can spread to humans from animals. Workers who work with animals or animal products may need to take additional precautions to stay healthy. Health and safety information for farm workers can be found on the Occupational Health farm workers page.
Silica dust is a hazard that can cause irreversible lung damage if proper precautions are not taken. Read Silicosis: What Employers Need to Know, P-03261 (available in English, Spanish, and Hmong) to learn more about what silicosis is and how employers can minimize exposure to silica in the workplace. Learn more about silicosis and other occupational lung disease on the Occupational Lung Diseases webpage.
Thousands of Wisconsin workers are injured by slips, trips, and falls each year, some of them fatally. Falls are a particularly significant hazard in the construction industry. Learn how to prevent falls in construction sites at
Follow health and safety requirements
As an employer, you are required to provide a safe workplace for your employees. This means that you check your workplace to make sure there are no serious hazards, you train your employees in safe work practices, and you provide the equipment they need to do their job and stay safe. More information:
- Private employers in Wisconsin should refer to Occupational Safety and Health
Administration . - Public sector employers should refer to Department of Safety and Professional
Services . - National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health's (NIOSH) Small Business Safety and Health
Handbook provides practical steps for building an effective health and safety program in your workplace. WisCon offers free consultation to small businesses and public sector employers on workplace safety and health.
Make a plan for pregnant and breastfeeding workers
Some workplace exposure can be more dangerous for pregnant or breastfeeding workers than for other workers. Think about what jobs in your company could be hazardous for your pregnant workers, and share this information with employees. Offer them the option to temporarily transfer into safer jobs while they are pregnant or breastfeeding. If only one part of a pregnant worker's job is hazardous, offer to have another worker take over that specific task temporarily.
Plan to protect temporary workers
Workers in temporary placements face a higher risk of workplace injury than their non-temporary colleagues. Employers are still required to keep them safe. Learn more about protecting temporary workers on CDC's (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Personal protective equipment
Personal protective equipment protects workers from death, injuries, and illnesses. Learn more about this equipment at the NIOSH
Leading your organization to good health and safety practices makes good business sense. Here are some tools you can use:
- NIOSH Small Business Safety and Health
Handbook . - NIOSH Worker Well-Being toolkits and
resources. - Hierarchy of Controls Applied to Total Worker
Health . - Poster with worker's compensation information
(PDF) from Wisconsin's Department of Workforce Development. - Working with stone, manufactured stone, brick, sand, or other materials containing silica? Share the stories of three Wisconsin workers impacted by silicosis.
- Recovery-Ready Workplace
Toolkit from the US Department of Labor. - Avian Flu (HPAI) information for employers, P-03308, available in English and Spanish.
- What Employers Need to Know About Carbon Monoxide, P-02486, available in English and Spanish.
- Trichloroethylene (TCE) in the Workplace, P-03201, available in English, Spanish, and Hmong.
- Blastomycosis: Employers and Workers, P-03246, available in English, Spanish, and Hmong.
- Hazards to Outdoor
Workers - Wood Dust and Work-Related
Asthma
WisCon: Wisconsin's free consulting service
Onsite Safety and Health Consultation in Wisconsin
Request a free health hazard evaluation
If you want to make your workplace safer but don't know where to start, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health can help. A Health Hazard
CDC-INFO
Contact
OSHA
- All About OSHA: An introduction booklet
(PDF) to OSHA. - Information on Wisconsin Area Offices of
OSHA.
NIOSH
- Small Business Occupational Safety and Health
Resources from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Publications from NIOSH.
Wisconsin Occupational Health and Safety Program
- Email us at DHSOCCHEALTH@
dhs.wisconsin.gov or at 608-266-1120. - Additional resources can be found on the Workplace Safety and Health Information for Workers webpage.
- Information on worker lead exposure can be found on the Adult Lead Program's For Employers webpage.
Selected text adapted with permission from NIOSH.
Questions?
If you can't find what you're looking for, please email us at dhsocchealth@