Business Cost Savings Through Safety

Benefits in an implemented safety program will save any business money. Safety affects any business and a safety program will make the workplace safer.

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safety, health, health safety, program, employees, –, health safety program, safety program, place, business, accidents, effective, procedures, insura

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Business Cost Savings Through Safety

Setting a health and safety program in place will reduce costs. Having a program will reduce accidents and will lead to lower company worker’s comp premiums; further business insurance companies prefer their customers to have health and safety programs. These insurance companies might even discount the premium if a program can be proved to exist. The average cost of an accident is $68,000. Direct costs in accidents such as worker’s comp and fines levied can close a business. Indirect costs such as low morale of employees, legal fees, and retraining can be as costly if not more.

A working program will:

1) Improve employee morale – Shows care in their well being

2) Reduce revenue loses – Fewer accidents keeps all employees at work

3) Give a boost to the customer – Makes sure business is operating optimally

Small businesses that have a voluntary health and safety program in place have fifty percent less accidents and reported insurance claims than that of their counterparts according to OHSA stats. Most small businesses fall below the legal requirements for having a formal health and safety program in place due to number of employees on staff. Sixty eight percent of reported accidents are in the service industry which shows even businesses such as retail establishments are not free of accidents.

A health and safety program can be started by writing a health and safety policy; this is simply values that a company wishes to convey in its work processes. Secondly, is how communication between all employees and owners will function. And lastly, put procedures in place to ensure safe practices.

To find unseen hazards and unsafe practices, an audit needs to take place. Take a hard look at the workplace and record all factors that may lead to injury. These hazards might be dangerous chemicals or as simple as a letter opener. Identifying these hazards will lead to procedures to controlling them. Controls such as “Don’t run with scissors in your hands” are effective. Write all procedures in a manual.

Implementing these health and safety procedures will be done with behavioral change. Some programs become weak and non effective because of:

1) No definition of safety practices – No written processes

2) No teamwork – Safety is communication from the top to bottom and vice versa. A well written plan will describe what roles everyone plays in safety policies.

3) No effective goals – The “accident free days” poster will come as a result of sound safety processes.

4) Wrong incentives – Money as a reward does not work well. Health and safety should be fun and worth employees effort. The right incentive plan can be cost effective and have obtainable goals. Incentive plans can include movie passes or simply “free coffee on the boss.” The insurance industry reports for a dollar spent on health and safety yields four to six dollars in savings.

Once all of the hard work of developing and implementing the health and safety program is done, set aside some time each month to review the workplace. Record what is found; this is a good practice to see dangerous trends that might occur such as a fire exit constantly being blocked. On the quarters of the year post a meeting with employees. These meetings are a great way to get vital feed-back from employees and keep them involved. At least once a year, do an audit to make sure your health and safety program is current with present business operations.

Four Uncommon Energy Savings

We all need to use energy wisely. It saves money, reduces pollution, and makes us better citizens.

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energy saving, global warming, climate change, transformers, waste energy

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Here are four uncommon things that you can do to save energy.

1) Change time zones.

That is, when possible, travel when others are less likely to be on the road. You will save gas by avoiding delays. For example, avoid rush hour traffic by leaving an hour early. Then use this extra hour to read, plan your day, or add an little extra to your job. If your company permits flex time hours, then you could leave for home before rush hour starts.

Also, consider shopping early or late in the day. Besides encountering less traffic, you will find that there are fewer shoppers and shorter lines in the stores. That produces a time saving bonus by making your shopping more efficient.

2) Ride a bicycle.

But do this in your car. That is, pretend that you have to peddle in order to make your car move. Avoid quick starts, acceleration up hills, and driving into a stop. Instead, start gradually, take it easy going up hills, and coast to a red light - just as if you were the engine.

Of course, use common sense. For example, move with the traffic and do this when appropriate.

3) Shut it off.

Some people leave the engine running when they park. This is a terrible idea because: a) it wastes gas, b) it leaves your car exposed to theft, and c) if children are left in the car, they could cause an accident by putting the car in gear.

Similarly, turn off the engine any time that you have to wait for more than about half a minute, such as at a railroad crossing.

Note: most cars use about a gallon of gas an hour while in idle. If gas costs $4 a gallon, then 15 minutes of idle will cost you a dollar.

4) Stop leaks.

Most offices have dozens of small transformers that supply power to computers, network hubs, printers, modems, scanners, and other accessories. Transformers are also used to recharge batteries in cell phones, cameras, and iPods.

These transformers keep using electricity even when the device has been turned off or disconnected from it. It's like having a faucet leak around the clock. Drop by drop it's wasting energy (and money).

While each transformer uses only a small amount of electricity, six or eight of them are equivalent to a standard light bulb. Over time that adds up to a significant amount of electricity.

Put all of the transformers on a circuit strip. They turn off the strip at the end of the day. Or, unplug the transformer when it's not being used.

Similarly, check your home for electrical leaks. Unplug coffee makers, toasters, and small ovens. Some of these have decorative lights or clocks - all things that we can live without.

Great Savings in Postcard Printing

The cost of living is pretty high nowadays that we need to consider saving a penny. Clothesline, groceries, and office supplies - everything has increased in value. Thus, extra effort to save is a must.

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custom postcard printing, discount postcard printing, business postcards printing, postcard printing services, create-a-postcard printing services, po

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Every penny counts. This is the reason why I am cautious where to spend it. We need to be a spend-thrift, not simply because it is wise but because it is a must.
I am into postcards and every once in a while I am tasked to take charge of the whole process - from the conceptualization up to printing. If you are to see it in a packaging it may seem a pretty taxing process. In fact, the entire thing takes a lot of effort and money. Nonetheless, it may also be on the contrary.

Printing rate is a big factor that you need to consider in dealing with postcards. Many postcard designs are 'ganged' in order to save on both money and time. Ganging print dramatically slashes the price of each printing job at a faster printing process. Basically, that is hitting two birds at the same time.

Ganging print goes like this, if you are going to print 12 different postcard designs on different sheets, in ganging it will be run through the press just once. By now, you can see the effect.

Another consideration that can help you is to find a commercial printer that gives a good postcard printing deal. There are available discount postcard printing deals in the business these days. Grab the opportunity to save more.

In connection to mailing postcards, postage rate can be pretty affordable. In fact, first class mail is only 23 cents. If you are to compare it with mailing letters, it is 14 cents lower. However, if you are choosing mailing some requirements must be met by your postcards. One of the requirements is the final trim size of 5 to 6 inches in length and 1-1/2 to 4-1/4 inches in height. This postcard rate includes double postcards that have reply cards.

If you opt to make postcards online, you can use ready-made templates to save time. There are thousands of them online. All you have to do is download them. By that process, designing will be made easy and will not eat your time.

To make it even easier, you can upload your own mailing list from several file formats. Check this mailing list against your official post office records. Change any errors to preclude you from spending further on invalid addresses. Finally, save your mailing list for future use.