June Is National Safety Month!

Celebrated annually by the National Safety Council (NSC) since 1996, National Safety Month seeks to increase awareness of safety at work, at home, and within our communities.

With a number of diverse resources made available to both its members and the general public, NSC takes the month of June to highlight the top risks to health and safety while working to decrease the occurrence of unintentional injuries and deaths nationwide.

A New and Evolved Focus on Safety in 2020

For National Safety Month 2020, NSC notes that safety is now, perhaps more than ever, extremely crucial both inside and outside the workplace. In past years, the month-long event focused on a different aspect of safety each week; as we continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Council will continue to spotlight certain pressing safety topics while also providing materials from its SAFER: Safe Actions for Employee Returns task force to help employers prioritize safety as workers return to more traditional work environments and schedules while businesses reopen.

Some of the safety issues NSC chose to highlight for National Safety Month this year include:

• Mental health. It’s one of the biggest safety challenges of our time—and also often one of the most misunderstood and least discussed. NSC aims to change that with checklists, tip sheets, and articles addressing how employers can work with benefits providers and employees to address such issues as fatigue, substance abuse, and managing the stresses and anxieties surrounding the COVID-19 crisis.
• Building a company safety culture. Included in NSC’s materials this year are tips on communication, training, and safety leadership, plus advice on how to start a safety committee and how you can better incorporate safety into the culture of a small business.
• Ergonomics. A common workplace safety issue, NSC has included in its free materials some timely advice on how to address ergonomics while working from home.
• Driving. While a major shift to remote work has kept many of us off the road more often than usual, preventable injuries and deaths still occur in the course of driving. With tip sheets and other articles, NSC tackles the causes of these incidents and also provides advice on how to combat distraction among transportation workers during COVID-19.

You can download these free National Safety Month materials here, and as the nation’s leading nonprofit safety advocate, NSC also notes that thanks to an anonymous donor, 100% of every donation that is made during National Safety Month will be matched up to $25,000 to support the SAFER effort to address a safe return to work in the coming months.

Keeping Safety at the Forefront 365 Days a Year

National Safety Month provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the importance of safety across the country—and also serves as a reminder of its importance all year round, especially to those in the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) professions. Ensure that you employ the right solutions in order to best protect your workforce 365 days a year.