What Are Your Safety Goals for the New Year?

Goals and visions provide us with direction to dedicate our time and resources. Unfortunately, not many people consider safety as part of their new year’s resolutions. We are surrounded by many risks which are likely to affect our health. These include health hazards and security risks. Our safety should always come as a priority whenever we think of new year resolutions.

How Do You Go About Coming up With Safety Goals?

Your safety goal should be oriented to your experiences and future plans. You need to go through your past safety gaps and analyze areas you feel need to be worked on. This could be as simple as providing reliable safety hazards. The safety goals you wish to achieve over the new year should be based on the commonly known ideology SMART Goal:

• Specific: To make your goals well focused, you need to define what you really want to achieve. It is also crucial to establish the persons involved and the location and type/amount of resources you need to dedicate to achieving your goals.
• Measurable: As you set your safety metrics, always define a way of establishing your progress from time to time. It is helpful to come up with deadlines for achieving different levels of your goals. If they are annual goals, you could evaluate them monthly or quarterly to monitor your progress. The minor achievements and meeting the stated deadlines will motivate you to keep going.
• Achievable: The goals you set should be within your ability while at the same time stretching your limits. Suppose you identify the plan as being important. In that case, you will need to establish the number of resources you already have at your disposal and where you can cut on to pull more resources towards reaching your targets. For your goals to be achievable, you will need to ascertain if they are realistically based on your abilities and the accessibility of the resources necessary. Don’t ever make goals that are under the control of another person, as they will not be achievable.
• Relevant: The goals you set should be important to you and positively impact your life. As you set your goals, always look at areas that contribute to your personal growth or help achieve other goals. Always own your goals and avoid placing the responsibility on others.
• Time bound: Goals need to be governed by time deadlines. It is helpful to have small timelines for achieving easy targets. Setting smaller achievable targets of the big goals will create excitement towards achieving more. It also helps in the prevention of procrastination. Everyday tasks have a way of getting in the way and interrupting long term goals. With daily targets, you always set aside time specifically for that.

Why use SMART objectives?

The SMART objective is a specific, achievable, and relevant way to monitor the progress of your goal systematically. A safety program or plan can systematically and meaningfully measure progress, show accomplishments, and recognize opportunities for improvement by starting with SMART objectives.

Different safety goals that could be part of your new year resolutions

Setting your safety goals every year will significantly help in avoiding different types of emergencies. In fact, the most prominent healthcare accrediting organization, The Joint Commission is releasing its National Patient Safety Goals each year for hospitals to avoid patient safety issue and medical errors. Not just in hospitals, but also in the workplace and our homes, we should set different safety goals. Here are some goals that can be part of your new year resolution:

Learn First Aid

First aid is a required course as it offers skills in managing different types of medical emergencies. Whenever someone is hurt or injured, you need to know how to provide them with medical assistance before emergency responders arrive. You should include this in your goals for a culture of safety. Here are some of the reasons why you should learn first aid:

• First aid course enables you to handle both minor and major injuries from the hospital. After first aid, some minor injuries don’t require further medical care.
• Anyone can learn first aid. The procedures involved in offering first aid are pretty simple, and persons with limited educational backgrounds can follow and save lives.
• Another reason why you should learn first aid is that it relieves pain and suffering. First aid procedures are structured to help the victim feel better and fasten the healing process. Some injuries and accidents are quite painful such as burns and fractures. The quality of first aid offered to a victim with burns determines the speed at which the victim heals and scarring.
• First aid course offers the individual the skills and techniques of handling different emergencies, including burns, bleeding, cuts, fractures, broken bones, sprains, insect and animal bites, and heat-related illnesses.
• First aid training offers the confidence to attend to life threatening emergencies victims. Whenever someone is injured, like in car accidents, bystanders are afraid of taking action in fear of causing further injuries.
• First aid trained persons have skills in self protection when dealing with emergencies. When offering first aid to victims, it is essential to avoid getting into contact with blood, body fluids, and other secretions that place you at risk of cross infection. With first aid skills, the individual is equipped with skills to use personal protective equipment effectively. An example is how to give mouth to mouth ventilation without exposing yourself to the risk of contracting tuberculosis.

Learn CPR and AED

CPR and AED training are the most essential skills. They are used on cardiac arrest victims to revive their normal heart functions. Unfortunately, the arrest cases in our society are on the rise, with only 12% survival rate. The survival of these victims is dependent on how fast they receive CPR. Here are some reasons why you should learn AED and CPR:

• CPR helps in saving lives. Whenever an individual undergoes cardiac arrest, it is only through CPR and application of AED that they can be saved.
• It feels good knowing that you could be someone’s hero. The victim whose life you save and their family will forever feel indebted to you.
• The quality of CPR given to a cardiac arrest victim is critical in their survival. CPR trained persons can provide high quality chest compressions.
• The operation of AED requires training. The device is helpful as it analyzes the victim’s heart to determine if it can be reversed through shock and advises accordingly. Only through this shock the heart of a cardiac arrest victim can regain its normal state.
• Finally, you never know on whom you will use your CPR skills. Most cardiac arrests cases occur at home. The chances of emergency response arriving in time to save your loved ones are very low.

Reduce the risk for injuries

The number of injuries that could occur at home is extensive. You should ensure your home is safe against risks of injuries such as falls, cuts, and fire. Here are some precautions you should have in mind when working on injury reduction at your home:

• Work on slippery and uneven floors and pavements Store sharp items and iron boxes safely and far from children’s reach.
• Clean spills immediately and take caution on where you place hot liquids.
• Secure rags, which often cause you to slip with non slid pads. Alternatively, replace them with slip resistant backing.
• Place grab bars in the shower to prevent common falls in the bathroom. Check your hot water system and ensure it is safe for children and the elderly in your home.
• Always keep electrical appliances safe from possible contact with water.
• Make your staircase safe by using secure carpets, removing rags from the top and bottom of stairs, and securing full length handrails.
• Organize your home and create enough space for traffic, and remove items that might cause people to trip while walking around the house.
• Have a first aid kit: Every home should have an easily accessible and valuable first aid kit. If you are thinking of safety over the new year, the first aid kit should be a priority. You also need to check it frequently and replace any missing and expired items, including medicines. Place your first aid where everyone in the home can quickly locate it.

Enhance children’s safety

The best way to keep your children safe at home is to keep the home environment safe. Therefore, it is also critical to train them on safety precautions. Some helpful safety tips for children at home include: Some helpful safety tips for children at home include:

• Never to open the door to strangers.
• When and how to call emergency numbers (911).
• Memorize their home address and phone number.
• To avoid putting up personal information online.
• Not to allow anyone to touch them.
• Never to trust strangers.

Up your home security system

An effective home security system is very critical. Here are some tips to make your home burglary proof:

• Avoid doors that have glass near the handle.
• Secure the first floor windows and other entry points.
• Have the police check your home for a possible break in points.
• Avoid placing a security key at obvious places.
• Keep valuable items in your home out of sight.
• Use motion activated lights.

Fire prevention measures

When a house catches fire, you should vacate everyone within two minutes. The following safety measures will protect you from possible fire outbreaks at your home:

• Ensure all the fire alarms are functional by checking them frequently and replacing batteries.
• Train your children on how to sense smoke and how to dial 911. Then, ensure safety by finding ways to escape from each room in case of fire.
• Practice fire escapes at least annually to ensure your safety plan works.
• Make sure that your family knows how to act when they are on fire- they should drop and roll on the ground.

Conclusion

Prevention is better than cure. Most home emergencies can be avoided. It is best to ensure your loved ones safety at home by putting in place the necessary safety precautions. However much we prevent the occurrence of emergencies, they are at times inevitable. For this reason, you should learn CPR AED and first aid skills.

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