Making Your Office Safer for Workers

15 August 2016

We naturally make certain mental connections when we hear particular phrases. For example, when we hear the phrase ‘workplace injury’. we would likely draw a connection to construction workers or assembly-line workers who get a herniated disc after lifting a heavy object. It’s a natural connection to make. After all, workers in construction and manufacturing do suffer many workplace injuries every year.

But it might come as a surprise to some employers that a large number of workplace injuries and illnesses occur in more unassuming locations – namely, the everyday, average office building. Thousands of workers suffer injuries in an office environment every year, ranging from mild sprains that require no time off of work to catastrophic injuries that are debilitating and, in some cases, fatal.

What are these dangers that lurk in our office buildings, and what can we do to ensure the safety of office employees?

Common Dangers for Office Workers

Falls – Did you know that workplace falls in offices occur at a rate two to two-and-a-half times greater than those in non-office work environments? Not only are falls the most common injury in the workplace — they also have the potential for some of the greatest damage. Falls can result in broken bones, sprains, spinal cord damage and traumatic brain injuries, to name just a few.

Tip: Keep floors free from clutter and look out for anything that might cause employees to slip or trip, such as loose, broken flooring or slick surfaces.

Being Struck by or Against an Object – Yet another surprising form of injury suffered in office environments is being struck by an object. This could mean bumping into an object, being hit by a thrown object or any number of scenarios in which a person comes into contact with a moving or stationary object.

Tip: Safely store equipment so it poses no threat to workers. Always make sure that drawers are closed, and be mindful of fingers and hands when closing drawers.

Airborne Contaminants and Poor Air Quality – Indoor air quality control should be a top priority of any office space. Hazards can include asbestos, mold and chemical contaminants. Depending on the level of contamination and the sensitivity of each individual worker (especially if they are allergic to a particular substance), airborne hazards can cause serious illness.

Tip: Regularly have your workplace inspected for air quality and immediately address any hazards that might be present. If there are toxins or other airborne hazards present in your office building, make sure your employees evacuate the building until it is safe to return.

Lifting Injuries – Workers in office buildings regularly move items around, whether lifting boxes full of printer paper, carrying packages from an inbox or simply moving commonplace desk items from one spot to another. These seemingly innocuous tasks can lead to strained muscles or herniated discs if done improperly or if a pre-existing condition is present.

Tip: Never pick up an object unless you are sure of how heavy it will be, and don’t be afraid to ask for help from a co-worker if an object is heavy enough to pose a risk. Remember proper lifting techniques and always lift with your knees. Also, don’t lift anything while seated. This can cause serious strain on your body and lead to injury.

Posturing and Ergonomic-Related Injuries – One of the most basic yet overlooked aspects of ensuring office workers are not injured on the job is optimizing the setup of a workspace. As simple as it might seem, the position of a chair, the height of a desk or the distance that a worker sits from their workstation can have a major impact on a worker’s health. If a worker is constantly in a state of poor posture or strains to do their jobs, they can quickly develop problems with their back, shoulders, wrists, and neck. Over time, a condition can worsen to become a serious injury that lingers with a worker for years to come. For example, an office worker who is repeatedly straining to reach their keyboard might be at a greater risk for developing carpal tunnel syndrome.

Tip: Arrange a workspace so that it fits the person using it. Make sure that the chair is the proper height and that the worker never has to strain or reach very far to perform basic, repetitive functions.

Eye Strain – Now more than ever before, workers endure a significant amount of strain to their eyes. While screens in and of themselves do not permanently damage the eye, eye strain can lead to other problems that might hinder a worker’s productivity. Eye strain can cause headaches, blurred vision, dry eyes and difficulty focusing, to name just a few problems. Much like ergonomic-related injuries, eye strain might also be addressed by a properly situated workspace.

Tip: Remind workers to take breaks from the screen from time to time. Suggest lubricating eye drops (the kind without preservatives) for workers with dry eyes. Other ways to reduce the effects of computer screens on workers’ eyes is to make sure that the screen is level with their line of sight and adjusting the brightness of a screen to the liking and comfort of the person using it.

Not only does reducing these hazards make for a safer workplace, but it also creates a more productive work environment. Happier and healthier employees are much more likely to be efficient and productive in their jobs. Consider an investment in maintaining and improving the safety of your office space as a way to improve worker morale in addition to improving the workflow of your business.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says that businesses collectively spend $170 billion on workplace injuries and illnesses. OSHA goes on to say that by taking steps to address workplace health and safety, businesses can reduce these costs by up to 40 percent.

As you can see, working in an office doesn’t come without risks. It is up to employers and supervisors to keep an eye out for these hazards and to regularly inspect and address anything that might pose risks to their employees. If you see something in your office that looks like it might be a work hazard, inform your employer of the problem immediately. You might just be saving your coworkers from a workplace injury.

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Lucia Patterson

Lucia Patterson is the woman behind TheLegalGuides, a blog solely focused on legal guides, tips, and advice. Lucia loves essay writing and blogs at EssayWritingGuides from her college days.

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5 Proven tactics to acquire more quality leads

Leads are the foundation for sales. While we all wish that everyone we come across as brands would convert right on the spot, that's not how it works. People need to "think about it", some need to actually see the benefits of what it is you're offering, and others just haven't been convinced yet. People are in different stages of your conversion funnel, and how they are convinced to ultimately purchase can vary a lot. To convert these individuals, you first need to gather leads, and then impact them time and time over, until they finally buy from you. Everyone is talking about the importance of collecting leads and then working to get people farther and farther down the conversion funnel, but very few people actually talk about how it is done, and what goes into doing it effectively. Additionally, there's a huge misconception about collecting leads that people make. Many people focus on acquiring as many leads as possible, and in doing so, they put zero thought into who those people actually are, which, means neglecting quality for quantity. Then, when they've gathered thousands and thousands of leads, they celebrate and cheer, without realizing that the leads they gathered were completely irrelevant and that the reason for acquiring leads in the first place is not done for the sake of having lots of leads, but to ultimately get people to buy. In this post, you'll learn how to build an email list from the people who come to your website, not by increasing the people who come to your site, but by optimizing the lead-generation process to increase your conversion rate of your visitors. And most importantly, you'll learn how you can improve the quality of the leads you get, and ensure that the ones you do get are laser-targeted to your brand and niche, and thus likely to convert into customers. 1. Create appealing subscription forms : When working to collect leads, you almost always have some sort of subscription form. Through this form, you collect information about your prospect such as email address, name, profession, etc. You've probably come across subscription forms that only ask for your email address and you've probably experienced the type of subscription-forms that ask for your name, profession, habits, and so on, where you're wondering when the number of fields is going to end. We'll go more into detail about the reasons to why some brands choose to do this further on, but now, we're going to focus on improving the format of the subscription form to give it a better visual appeal. When you're working to collect leads, you need to ensure that the subscription form is inviting and encourages people to sign-up. If the form just looks overwhelming and cluttery, you risk making your visitors confused, and ultimately losing them forever. As an example, here's Send pulse subscription form: As you can see, it is clear, concise, and asks for the most important information without coming off as intrusive or overwhelming. An important part of this is eliminating unnecessary elements of the subscription form which can risk confusing visitors. A challenge that many marketers face when they are going to set up their lead-generation form to acquire leads is that they have absolutely no expertise in coding or designing, and most importantly, they have no idea how they're going to create a subscription form to maximize conversions. The good news is that no longer, you need to have coding experience or be very good at designing in order to create a subscription form that performs well. The reason for this is that tools like Send pulse have done all of that for you. The absolute best part is that Send pulse gives you the option you to choose from their many pre-designed forms and then optimize it according to your brand and style. This means that you don't have to spend countless hours trying to figure out the format for a successful subscription form. Because with Sendpulse's subscription forms, you already have access to tried and true formats right at your fingertips that have proven to drive the best results. 2. Ask for relevant information : Here comes the answer to the cliffhanger that presented earlier about including lots of fields where you ask for information about your prospects (and why it can actually be a good thing). You might think that the fewer fields you have that your prospects need to fill in, the better, because obviously, the more people will be willing to invest their time, but that's actually not always the case. The fact is that while having a few fields can increase the number of registrations, it can also mean that many of the registrations you get are of higher quality. This is very relevant considering the fact that 61% of B2B marketers struggle to generate high-quality leads. And remember, ultimately, it's not about how many leads you can collect, it's about how many quality leads you can generate. Because ultimately, these are the only individuals who will do what you want them to do in the future, which is, become paying customers. Now, obviously, there's a fine balance between simply including too many fields that bring no value and having a high amount of fields that filter away irrelevant people, and to find the ideal length, you simply need to experiment and learn through trial and error, but the best part is that the SendPulse subscription forms allow you to add as many or as few fields as you'd like. Even better, it also allows you to add or remove whichever fields you'd like, whenever you'd like. This allows you to have full control over your lead-generation subscription forms, and at the same time be able to change and optimize them with ease within a matter of seconds. Since you are after quality leads, not quantity, don't be afraid of asking for a lot of information about the people signing up. The more relevant questions you ask, the more certain you can be that the leads you generate are very hot. 3. Include images : Humans are visual creatures, and so I cannot emphasize just how important including visual content in your subscription form is. When it comes to creating appealing subscription forms, visuals play a huge part, and they also play a huge part in people's first impression of it, and if they decide to complete it or not. Just creating a subscription-form with text can be very overwhelming for your visitors, and this means that you risk losing people in the process. If you do, however, include images in your subscription form, you can grasp your audience's attention, and convince them to sign up. Again, if you are designing your lead-gen forms manually, including images, changing formats, and optimizing them can be a full-time job due to its complexity, but using the Send pulse subscription forms allows you to effortlessly upload and store images in any format on their server. The best part? It can be done free of charge! 4.Create responsive subscription forms : Believe it or not, but people are still using unresponsive lead-gen forms. Some just don't know how to optimize them for all devices, others just don't believe or know that it is necessary. But with the increased usage of mobile devices, making your forms responsive is crucial for increasing the number of leads you generate, because if your form isn't responsive, you can be sure that almost 100% of the people who experience an unresponsive form will leave without signing up due to a terrible experience (or because they're just not able to sign up). Manually creating forms that are responsive can be difficult, to say the least, but when using Sendpulse's subscription forms, you don't have to pay a single thought on that, because all forms are responsive. 5. Use subscription formats that are relevant to your needs : The format of your subscription forms and where they are presented have a huge impact on its performance. Sendpulse offers four different types of forms that you can use for your sign-ups, all of which support different needs. Based on how your visitors use and navigate your website, different forms can work differently well. The best part is that using this subscription forms service, you don't have to guess or ponder what might work the best. Simply put each and every one of these subscription formats into practice, and see for yourself which format works best for you. Read Also : 7 Proven Marketing Tactics To Increase Your ROI In 2018 Social Media Marketing Role In Technology Role Of Messaging Apps In Enhancing A Company’s Market Prospects

How To Execute An Effective Video Marketing Campaign

Video marketing is the in thing when it comes to new age advertising strategies. Video marketing is proving to be effective in its marketing duties courtesy of the interactive clips that possess the ‘it’ factor needed to grab the viewer’s attention. This strategy allows you to use short video clips either on their own or amid other videos in video sharing sites such as YouTube. With 70% of marketing firms using videos in marketing, the concept is one to watch out for. Just like any other advertising mode, there are some aspects in video marketing that you can tweak so as to get the best results. How you can effectively execute a video marketing campaign: 1. Focus On The Content: For an effective video marketing campaign, the content is the major driving force. When focusing on the content, ensure it meets the wants of the target audience for it to become more relevant. If you get right on the content, the story behind the video campaign gets a steady foundation and is able to steer itself perfectly. Also, make sure you do not overdo the content to avoid making it appear stuffy or boring. Boring content leads to the viewers losing interest easily which can be a major blow to your marketing. Stuffy content, on the other hand, dilutes the main message which you want to communicate to your audience. 3. Know Where To Fish For Your Audience: Your marketing video’s audience is another key factor that you cannot overlook. Without an audience, your video marketing campaign is simply useless with almost nil traffic conversion rates. As such, you need to know where your target audience lurks and how to effectively get to them. One hub where you can get a decent viewership number is on the various social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram among others. On the platforms, you can post your videos and take note of the number of views and take advantage of the one that has a high number of viewers. However, do not ignore the other platforms even if they register low viewership as it can do some justice to your overall traffic. Knowing where to get your audience also provides a shadow of their wants and needs, factors which you can integrate into your videos for a hiked viewership. 3. Get A Good Script To Go With Video: A good script is a channel through which your video's content gets perceived easily by your intended viewers. This means that you need to get a good script as a guide for your content. For the script, make it simple and easy to comprehend more so if it is an educative piece. When crafting the video's script, ensure that the first few seconds are really captivating so as to hook the viewer till the end. A boring start will definitely result in a skip hence your message fails to get to your audience. Add some humor to it if possible to make the video less boring. 4. Keep The Videos Short: Another trick for an effective video marketing campaign is to create shorter videos. Apart from being relatively affordable and easy to create, they also grab the viewer's attention to the end. Many viewers seem to get discouraged when they see a video is too long and they may certainly avoid it. A short video has them in the notion that it won't take much of their time hence they go with it till its completion. Always keep in mind that the purpose of the video is to get the attention of the viewer. 5. Get Creative With Your Video: When talking of creativity, the focal point is the use of the available freedom to put in various features to make the video unique. Uniqueness sells and in this situation you cannot get disappointed. You can use animation style videos which are gaining much mainstream acceptance and also they do have a larger audience reach. Animated videos also give you a chance to mash up colors and have a blend of voice-over acts to make the video distinct. For instance, you can use a text to speech software to convert your written text into human sounding voices in different languages across the world. With the help of this tool, you can connect with a wider audience globally. Also to give your videos some character and identity, a watermark or logo might do some justice for you. 6. Get To Know Your Competitors: For any marketing strategy to have the distinction of being successful, it needs to either be on the same level or better than the competitors. This requires you to know what strategies your competition is using to stay on top of the game and come up with a nice plan. Make sure that the strategy you plan to use is not like your competitors for the uniqueness of your brand and to also avoid lawsuits which may arise contesting the similarity. 7. Constantly Update Your Feed: To keep your audience hooked and benefit from a loyal following, you need to constantly update your video feed. At reasonable intervals, upload your photos to satisfy your viewer’s needs for more content. Ensure each content is more interesting for them to keep close in case you drop another gem. Consistency is one area where many content creators hit a miss and you do not want to fall in that hole as it spells doom for your brand. If you cannot manage to be consistent, you can partner up with a consistent brand which provides your brand with some airtime which may come at a fee. Bottom-Line: When executing an effective video marketing campaign, your audience matters the most. Every process from getting the content to getting the right script to accompany the video needs to be viewer-oriented. This helps maintain a large following as well as attract another decent number of viewers who relate to your content. Additionally, when making the video get your creativity game on point to come out with unique content that stands out from the pack. Uniqueness is a point of attraction hence you are sure to get your numbers off the roof if you know your way through. Also, ensure that the video is short and straight to the pint to grab the attention of your audience. A nice video editing tool may help you a ton in making your videos distinct. Video marketing campaigns need consistency to be effective hence keep on bringing more video content to uplift your brand. Read Also: Essentials For Digital Marketing Dos And Don’ts Of Marketing For Technology Companies Importance Of Storytelling In Social Media Marketing

Magento vs. Shopify: Which Is Best For Your E-commerce Store?

The first quarter of 2019 has almost passed, and it has been predicted that 18% of the purchases will be made online by 2040. Further, 95% of the orders will be facilitated by e-commerce store. Considering the above statistics, it comes as no surprise that the fate of your online business is dependent on how your website works. But did you know that all your website operations rely on the choice of your e-commerce platform? Now, as the online store owners narrow down the choices, they are only left with two main platforms as the contenders- Magento and Shopify. While both platforms can create a one-of-kind e-commerce store, they differ in many areas. To start with, Shopify works best for smaller businesses. On the flip side, Magento is aimed at enterprise businesses. This post is going will give you an in-depth insight on Magento and Shopify and help you decide which is an ideal platform for your e-commerce store. Magento and Shopify in a Nutshell: e-commerce store Magento: Launched in 2007, Magento is a self-hosted e-commerce platform that powers a number of web stores. The platform is open source and comes with two versions including community (suitable for developers and small businesses) and enterprise edition (best suited for mid-sized and large e-commerce stores). The usage of the platform is free, but you’ll have to pay an amount for premium apps, themes, and hosting. Irrespective of the price you have to pay, this platform is best known for its flexibility, ability to customize, and scalability. Shopify: Shopify is a hosted e-commerce platform that allows single-step order fulfillment and lets you set up a store with a custom domain and a theme. This platform comes with an easy-to-use interface and is more for beginner developers. Moreover, it comes with a 14-day free trial, allows integration with over 70 payment gateways, and is available in almost every language. Although there are numerous Shopify alternatives available across the web, what sets this platform apart from others is its ability to set up a dynamic store in no time. You will have to pay for the platform after the free trial, but the Shopify team takes care of all the technical tasks. Magento and Shopify: What Numbers Say! Description Shopify Magento Number of Websites 600,000 250,000 Number of Extensions 2,400+ 3,000+ Number of Themes 60 (external purchase is allowed) 12 (external purchase is allowed) Now when you are aware of what these platforms are, here is a feature comparison of Magneto and Shopify. 1. Basic Functionality and Ease of Usage: Both the e-commerce platforms have all the basic store functionalities that are easy to use and maintain. But if we compare both the platforms, Shopify is a drag and drop website builder. Magento has a steep learning curve, and you will have to learn some technical terms to get through the e-commerce store development process. With Shopify, the developer can add the products; customize the look and feel of your store and set up the payment process in no time. The best part is you can make the entire e-commerce store without any technical knowledge. In Magento, you have to learn some code to develop an entire e-commerce store. Not to forget, they have comprehensive user guides that walk you step-by-step through various processes. They also have a forum from where you can learn some tricks of the trade. 2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) When it comes to SEO, both have great search engine optimization capabilities. However, you’ll have to leverage extra plug-ins in the cases for both platforms. But in the case of Shopify, SEO features are automatically built into the website, even in the product pages. 3. Themes and Templates Availability: In terms of themes and templates, both platforms offer highly-functional customization capabilities. They let you edit the raw code directly and give you full control over the design and appeal of your e-commerce store. Coming to the differences, Shopify offers a wide variation of mobile-optimized themes. Although many of them are free, if you go for the paid ones, your store gets a professional look and gets equipped with great sales potential. You also get the option to add new pages, change the color palette, move or resize the elements, and integrate the social media feeds. When it comes to Magento, it has 12 themes. Out of 12, 10 of them are fully responsive. This platform does have free themes, and the paid ones also start at just $1. With this platform, you can also create your theme or template from scratch. You have the option to add a slide, newsletter, and animation to the website. 4. Inventory Management: All Shopify plans allow unlimited products in the store. Magento also allows you to add or create an unlimited number of products on the website. But Shopify is one step ahead in this point due to its integration with drop shipping inventory apps such as Oberlo. Further, in Magento, you have the risk of slowing down your website. 5. Hosting Features: Your website's performance, storage, security, and speed are dependent on the hosting you choose. Did you know that 40% of people will abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load? This will result in a loss of customers as well as revenue. As Shopify is a hosted platform, it takes care of your entire domain and hosting needs; offers you 24*7 support, and let you concentrate on your business. Magento comes with two hosting options, including Open Source and Cloud. In Open Source hosting, you have to buy your domain and hosting. But in the case of Cloud, your e-commerce store is hosted and maintained by Magento. 6. Payment Processing: Shopify platform is already equipped with a payment processor, which is known by the name of Shopify Payments. If you use Shopify Payments for your e-commerce store, you won’t be charged any transaction fee. Moreover, it comes with the support of 60 external payment processors. For Magento, you will have to download the extension of the payment processor that you want in your e-commerce store. You can look for these extensions in Magento’s marketplace. However, some factors that make Magento worth the consideration are international market coverage and support for multiple languages. Summing Up: When it comes to choosing an ideal e-commerce platform, there are lots of factors to consider including interface, scalability, number of themes, templates, speed, load time, cost, search engine optimization, and more. Is Shopify worth it? If your considerations are ease of usage, availability of themes, not wanting to pay the transaction fee, and having the hosting and bandwidth taken care of, look no further than Shopify. It is user-friendly, has a payment processor, and comes with an array of themes to help you get started. But if you are technically savvy and want to build an e-commerce store for a large enterprise, go for Magento. With this platform, you will also have to find your hosting provider, which can become expensive, as your business scale. Moreover, there is a chance that you might have to invest some time as well. If you are still stuck on the decision, skim again through the comparison of features, weigh their pros and cons, and make the best choice for your business. Read Also: What Are the Common Causes of Catastrophic Injuries? Top 5 Sites Like Solarmovie To Watch Movies Online Do I Have To Pay Out Of Pocket For Wisdom Teeth Removal?

Making Your Office Safer for Workers

Common Dangers for Office Workers

What you need to be a Successful Entrepreneur

Promotion Position For Your Ex-panding SEM Business

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Lucia Patterson

Lucia Patterson is the woman behind TheLegalGuides, a blog solely focused on legal guides, tips, and advice. Lucia loves essay writing and blogs at EssayWritingGuides from her college days.

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Lucia Patterson is the woman behind TheLegalGuides, a blog solely focused on legal guides, tips, and advice. Lucia loves essay writing and blogs at EssayWritingGuides from her college days.

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Follow Us

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