Beware the Focus Four Hazards in the Workplace [Infographic]

Workplace accidents can happen in an instant and in a million different ways. But many of them fall into four dangerous and sometimes lethal categories. All workers must be aware of and trained to avoid the focus four hazards identified by OSHA as the most common causes of fatalities in the workplace.

They are:

• Caught-in/between Hazards – when a worker gets compressed, pinched, squeezed, crushed, rolled over or caved in.
• Electrocution Hazards – Exposure to lethal amounts of electricity for a significant amount of time
• Fall Hazards – The most common hazard where a worked loses their balance and fall significant distance to cause injury
• Struck-by Hazards – When objects, usually heavy equipment or loads of material, strike a workplace worker

Our infographic below is a quick guide to recognizing and avoiding these dangers. Take a look and share it with coworkers.

Remember, the best way to protect against the “Fatal Four” is a solid safety focus in the workplace. This involves management-level commitment to the protection of their employees or contractors, which is described in OSHA’s General Duty Clause.  A company committed to safety will develop safety regulations that are based on OSHA safety guidelines. These should include written and enforced safety precautions and procedures, a reporting mechanism for observed safety hazards, and occupational health and safety training for all workers. It should also emphasize the importance of all workers to receive safety training.

Focus Four Hazards and OSHA Safety Training to Avoid Injuries

Remember that accidents can occur in any workplace. OSHA training courses help students to recognize and avoid situations involving the Focus Four so that accidents don’t happen in the first place. In addition to teaching safety standards such as the use of personal protective equipment, OSHA safety training increases worker understanding and awareness of safety hazards in the workplace.

For more information about the Focus Four hazards and how to protect against them, check out the appropriate essential training courses offered by OSHA-Pros USA. These include four highlighted OSHA safety opportunities that let the worker obtain their OSHA Wallet Card from the Department of Labor. Most workers in construction will want to enroll in the OSHA 10 Hour Construction Safety Course. This provides an overview of construction safety and can be taken online within only a couple of days.  Construction managers, supervisors and executives will want the extra level of training that is provided in the OSHA 30 Hour Construction Safety Course. Like its 10-hour equivalent, it can be taken online within about four days.

Safety course are also available for those workers not in the construction industry, but in other, general industries that may require essential training. Workers in logistics, distribution, manufacturing, health care and government institutions may be required to take this training. Non-construction workers would enroll in the OSHA 10 Hour General Industry Course or, if at a management level, the OSHA 30 Hour General Industry Course. For a more detailed discussion of the OSHA 10 Construction Courses vs. the OSHA 30 Construction Courses please see our Construction Training Infographic here.   For those that need the same comparison in non-construction settings, see our General Industry Infographic here.