As-Salam-o-Alaikum Respected Readers,

We hope that you are finding our posts regularly and we will do our best to continue this service to you. Today we would like to share with you the results of an independent survey conducted in the United States of America. The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive® on the usefulness of first aid kits/cabinets in workplaces.

This telephone based survey was conducted in March-April this year targeting the adults and older. 68 percent of those surveyed said they would be more productive at work if provided access to a first aid kit or cabinet.

The senior director of the company said that the results of this survey has put more emphasis on the first aid kits/cabinets and largely related it to the overall productivity as well. He further stated that the increasing number of absences due to employee illness further makes the case for on-site first aid kits or cabinets in the workplace. He further added that ensuring that employees are equipped with the first aid supplies necessary to combat minor illness and injury in the workplace is essential to maximizing productivity and reducing costs for businesses.

Survey results included these:

• 88 percent of those surveyed agreed employers should be required to provide a first aid kit or cabinet at each office or workplace;
• 74 percent of employed adults think employers should be required to provide at least one at each work site.

The common cold is the leading cause of missed workdays, resulting in an average loss of 8.7 work hours per cold episode, which cited for the estimated economic cost of lost business productivity due to the common cold as approaching $25 billion, most of which is attributed to on-the-job productivity loss.

I would like to mention one example from my personal experience where employer was keen to distribute helmets and personal first aid kits to their employees in every Friday meeting based on their inputs of hazard identification reports in a week time. I have observed remarkable improvement in their approach towards personal safety through this incentive program. I hope someone may want to implement this idea in their company as well.

Also, see our earlier post on “Summary of achievements of first 10 years of 21st century” as well.

To Your Success,

Faisal Javed Mir