Here are some great ways to spend all that procrastination time wisely

1. Just because it's a desk doesn't mean you have to keep all your stationery on top of it. So you have a collection of pens, plenty of post-it notes, a stapler, hole punch and they all match. It's evident that last time you had to start on a task you procrastinated. You shopped online for matching desk accessories. They look great, but now there's so much clutter to distract you. Now you can easily spend 20 minutes rearranging your desk to position everything, so it looks like it's in a photoshoot. Store the seldom used accessories in a nearby drawer but within easy reach. The reduction in desktop items will help to minimise distraction. It also serves to clear your mind from clutter to improve focus.
2. Okay, so you've tidied the desk but you're still not ready to start on the task. What next? How can you go about ensuring the desk stays tidy? Onto the organising stage. Find a place for everything and when finished with it, put it back exactly where it was. If you dumped all the desk items into a drawer without giving it any thought, now's the time to start organising the drawer. You can start by removing anything that hasn't been used in quite some time. If you have double-ups of anything, consider giving some away or at least storing them in longer-term storage - perhaps right at the back of a cupboard or up high, out of the way.
3. Now that the space around you is looking good take a look below at the cables running across the ground. It seems like they could do with a bit of work. To add that final touch of organisation, invest in some cable covers. The Tripsafe Cable Covers for Carpet will fit right over the top of the cable and affix to the carpet using a velcro style hook & loop system. This cover will also eliminate cables as a trip hazard and will not damage the carpet. The cable covers are reusable so can be used anywhere in the house, and there is also a Tripsafe Cable Cover for Hard Floors for uncarpeted areas. Like the cover for carpet, these covers can also be easily removed and do not cause any harm to the surface, nor do they leave any residue. Made from PVC and with its unique design, it simply sits on the hard surface without being affixed.

So the key to a great desk area is to simplify, remove and eliminate. Reducing all distractions will surely make a difference to productivity and will most certainly assist with getting started on the tasks that we are trying our best to avoid.

Organisations are different; a program created for one organisations workplace cannot necessarily be expected to meet the needs of another workplace. Health and safety is the joint responsibility, and while your organisation will have different needs and scope for specific elements required in their health and safety program. It is important to understand the basic safety rules that could increase the safety of your workplace; the following basic rules should be considered in each case.

• Even though health and safety is the joint responsibility of management and workers, it is important to consider individual responsibility. Individual responsibility may be defined as an individual obligated to carry out assigned duties. It is essential that all employees know what is expected of them in health and safety terms, such as have authority and the competence and training required to carry the tasks out.
• A safety committee, the cooperative involvement of all employees is essential to create an effective safety program. A shared health and safety committee is a forum for collaborative involvement of employees representing both labour and management.
• Correct work procedures need to be established. Workplaces need rules to protect the health and safety of workers, but it is also dangers in having both too few or too many rules. Few rules can be interpreted as a sign that health and safety are not that crucial. On the other hand, too many rules might be seen as a sign of not treating employees as thinking adults. Consider these tips when establishing rules; rules should be stated in clearly understandable terms, be specific to health concerns, stated in positive terms, such as “workers should” and not “workers should not” and finally explain the reasons for the rules.
• Employee orientation and training. Health and safety training should begin with employee orientation when an employee joins the organisation. Inexperienced employees are more frequently involved in accidents than experienced workers. Health and safety training can be used to improve this, and an orientation session often covers this and explain the safety practices. Things associated with health and safety that should be included in employee orientation and training are; emergency procedures, location of first aid stations, safety responsibilities, how to report injuries and reasons for each rule.
• Emergency procedures – are plans for dealing with emergencies such as explosions, fires, natural hazards and violent occurrences. When emergencies like that happen, the urgent need for a fast decision, lack of time, resources, and trained workers can worsen the situation. An emergency procedure plan can result in less chaos and problems. The objective of an emergency plan is to prevent accidents and hazards. So the organisation need to define how to handle those situations in the plan. It could be by identifying possible hazards and the consequences, doing an inventory of resources needed to carry out the planned actions, and determining the required countermeasures.
• Lastly, the implementation, a good health and safety program provides a clear set of guidelines for the actions and activities that will reduce accidents and cases of occupational disease. A key to succeeding is to implement the program in the right way. This means, communicating the program to all employees, emphasis should be given to new workers, making all health and safety information available to all workers, and include health and safety performance as part of employee performance appraisals at all levels.
  
  

The best way to decrease the hidden costs of workplace injuries is to prevent accidents from happening in the first place. Following the steps below and consider creating a formal, comprehensive workplace safety program to help reduce the injuries at your workplace. Here are some tips on what your business can do to improve workplace safety today.

• Engage management and employees
  A business is most successful in improving workplace safety when leadership and employees work together. The responsibility for workplace safety should be part of everyone’s job, and specific employees and managers should haven specific responsibility and tasks. Such as being tasked with implanting, maintaining and improving workplace safety program components.
  
  
• Analyse your workplace and operations
  Evaluate your business and workplace from top to bottom. Review and look over your equipment as well as the activities going on in your workplace. As part of your evaluation, communicate with your employees to learn their safety concerns. Whenever you add new operations, equipment’s, activities or facilities to your workplace, analyse and evaluate these for risks as well.
  
  
• Alleviate hazards
  It is not only vital to identify and be aware of hazards and risky activities, practices, equipment and infrastructure. When hazards are identified, you should remove or make sure you control them by replacing or fixing equipment. As well as adding new safety measures or changing the operations at the workplace.
  
  
• Implementing training
  You should include workplace safety training as part of employees onboarding journey and also offer a memory refresh of the training on a regular basis to prevent hazards. Additionally, to prevent injury, you may want to include first-aid training so that your employees can respond effectively if an accident would occur.
  
  
• Evaluate, respond, act and improve.
  Promoting workplace safety is a continuous process and should be continuously done through evaluation. As a business, you should review and improve your safety program, especially in response to accidents or if one almost happened. Employees need to be encouraged to report hazards and evaluate safety steps.
  
  PS. the last tip for a quick way to reduce hazards in your workplace -Try the Tripsafe cable covers!
  The Tripsafe cable covers are made to make your workplace or home safer by reducing trip hazards. There are both soft and hard ones, suiting different environments. The cable covers are an innovative solution to tidy up messy cables. Trip safe cable covers are an inexpensive and easy solution to make your environment safer. More info about the Tripssafe cable covers here.
  

Safety at the workplace is a fundamental right of all workers, and it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure safety. By understanding the potential for risks in the workplace and effectively manage and lead the team to minimise those risks.

Creating a safe work environment is both a legal requirement and essential to the long-term success of the company. Implementing OHS best practices benefits the business. It helps you to retain staff, minimise injury and illness, reduce the cost of damage and worker’s compensation, and it maximises employee productivity.

Here is some advice on how to implement OHS best practices.

Understanding responsibilities
The employer is responsible for safety in the workplace. They need to research the legal OHS requirements that apply to their business. Once this is understood, it is crucial to create a health and safety policy to outline a commitment to safety clearly. Create a simple strategy and support it with an action plan aimed at continually enhance health and safety. Include intentions, objectives and specific responsibilities for the different employees such as managers and workers. Without explicit written documents, it is harder to hold people accountable for their safety responsibilities.

Consult employees
It is vital to engage employees in any decision that might affect their health and safety. Employees carrying out the work are suitable to inform of the risks involved and the improvement that could be done to create a safer workplace. Regularly consult groups such as designated workgroups or elected representatives on all safety matters. To ensure effective safety systems can be established.

Identify, evaluate and manage risks
The company must understand their health and safety risks by having systems in place to identify risks, assess and manage risks. Having employees report risks, conducting regular workplace inspections, analysing incident data and even sing an external auditor to inspect the workplace. Could be some examples that can be used to identify risks. Evaluating those risks will determine the time frame and urgency for managing the risk.

Inform, educate and supervise
Without the cooperation and understanding of employees, it is hard to achieve safety in the workplace. Therefore, keep employees informed of all risks, changes and procedures. Enlist the help of manuals, instructions, training videos and data sheets to ensure al employees understand. For some industries, it might be useful to educate by providing courses in, for example, first aid.

Manage incidents and accidents
The whole reason for implementing OHS practices is to avoid accidents from happening. If they do occur, managing them in the right way is essential to minimise loss and disruption. Thus, plan for accidents before they happen by implementing an emergency procedure, for different situations such as a fire.

Keep records
It is essential to document health and safety activities and to keep records to ensure all legal requirements are met. Files that should be kept include all documents referring to risk identification, risk assessment and control processes, training records and more. Keep them up to date, so it is of the most significant benefit.

Monitor, review and improve
Managing health and safety is an ongoing process that should be a part of the way a company does business. After implementing an OHS management system, its essential to review and evaluate each step to understand how well it’s working. Evaluate the implementation of procedures, policies and the effectiveness of those interventions, adjust what needs to be changed to improve the system and ensure success.


PS: Looking for a quick way to reduce hazards in your workplace? Try the Tripsafe cable cover. The Tripsafe cable covers are made to make your workplace or home safer by reducing trip hazards. Through innovative solutions tidying messy cables. Trip safe cable covers are an inexpensive and easy solution to make your environment safer.

More info about the Tripssafe cable covers here 

The TripSafe Team

Not only is your office a place where you work, but it is also where you should feel the most inspired and motivated. If you keep your office space organised, it can help you feel in control, focused and productive.

Since we often spend the majority of our time at work, the office can sometimes be a risk for accidents and injuries. The more time you spend at work, the more you are likely to succumb a job-related injury or emergency.

We have outlined five must-have accessories for a safe and tidy office space below.

Books and File Holders

Does your desk tend to overflow with paperwork and files every once in a while? Organising these can do wonders to your office, if not only make it look nice. Using file holders will keep your papers and documents in place and makes them easier to find when required. Use bookends to keep your books and folders in the right place.

Post-its and Label

At times, the mess is in your head rather than on your desk. Invest in a noticeboard and use post-its to organise your tasks and schedule. Labels are great not to lose track of documents and important files and removes the stress of finding last-minute paperwork.

Adjustable chair and desk

Whether seated or standing, your workspace should encourage a good posture and prevent work-related injuries. One great idea is to invest in a high-quality adjustable chair that suits your position — the more adaptable the chair, the better.

Ergonomically speaking, office workers should sit with their arms parallel to the floor and head in line with the torso.

Cable Covers

One of the leading causes of workplace injuries is clutter and messy surfaces that create a risk for trips and falls. With cables, cords and other objects lying around, employees are at risk of tripping over these. Often the consequences of these accidents are mild, but there have been cases of severe injuries from office falls.

Managing cables and organising wires at the workplace is something to put high up on the priority list. Cables create a risk of tripping, falling and injuring oneself, and most of all give the work environment an unprofessional and messy feel to it.

So with saying this, we recommend investing in cable covers that work well on hard floors as well as carpets. Have a look at our product range here.

Boxes and containers

Organise all your stationeries and pens to keep your space structured. Even if a majority of your writing is done digitally, keeping your accessories in place can instantly reduce the feeling of a messy office.

Do you have any other tips or accessories that help you to keep your office nice and tidy? Give us a message.

The TripSafe Team

Some things make a home look cluttery, and we have the solution on how to fix them. These tips are quick and easy fixes that will make your house look cleaner and more spacious instantly.

Are you a storer and keep multiple boxes in the hallway and the bathrooms? We understand, but we also advise you to scale down on the boxes and label the ones you need. Use this storing method for things you rarely use or for towels and clothes.

Boxes

Are you a storer and keep multiple boxes in the hallway and the bathrooms? We understand, but we also advise you to scale down on the boxes and label the ones you need. Use this storing method for things you rarely use or for towels and clothes.

Overloaded shoe rack

It's not a very welcoming gesture for your guests to trip over shoes as they enter the hallway. Shoes lying around create dirt and an overall messy impression, and it is a good idea to invest in a shoe rack if you haven't already got one. There are even vertical ones these days that allows your shoes to be tucked away against a wall, a very convenient solution for the space-saving person.

Open shelving

It is nice to have jars and tins on the kitchen bench for a homey feeling and easy access to the breakfast cereal. Although, this can cause a risk for the kitchen appearing messy. With dust and grease, the items you keep on the open shelves can be challenging to clean.

Try closed cabinets for a clean, organised look to your kitchen. These are convenient for avoiding dust and dirt to get to your kitchen supplies, and bright colours might even make space look bigger.

Cords and cables

It is a well-known fact that cords create, not only a tripping hazard but makes your space look cluttered and unorganised. We might, in most cases, need the cables to remain where they are to allow electronic devices to function. Nevertheless, there are ways to cover your cables to reduce the risk of falling and injuring yourself and have the space looking clean.

At TripSafe, we recommend these two covers:

Tripsafe Cable Cover For Carpet

This cover is quick and easy to use, leaves no traces of glue and allows usage multiple times. It can be cut to the desired length and comes in different colours.

The PVC Tripsafe Cable Cover

If you are looking to cover a non-carpet area, the PVC Tripsafe Cable Cover is your most suitable option. This cover is made out of PVC, a hard plastic, and fits up to five cables. This cover is removable and allows usage multiple times.

Carpets

Carpet floors give the house a cosy feeling to it, but once the first stain is in place, the feeling might not be the same. Because of a carpet's short lifespan, the better idea would be to invest in a smaller one. This will enable easy washing and an overall clean look to your space.

Let us know if you have any tricks that you use to make the house look clean and tidy.

The TripSafe Team

We have collected five leading causes of work-related accidents and what consequences they might have, and what can be done to prevent them.

1. Overexertion

Lifting, pulling and carrying are all tasks prone to overextension. In all jobs, physically demanding as seated office ones, employees are advised to take regular breaks and recharge before heading back to work. The reason overexertion is the number one cause of work-related injuries is due to the risk of fatigue and strain it creates.

We avoid overexertion related injuries by taking breaks at reasonable times and making sure we take time to rest if we are ever feeling overwhelmed. Keep a first aid kit accessible to reduce instant pain if an accident would ever occur.

2. Lack of Ergonomy

Back pain is the leading cause of work loss days in Australia and is estimated to account for a third of all work-related injuries in the world. Lower back injuries are mainly due to a lack of ergonomic training and inadequate equipment.

People taking days off from work costs Australia a lot of money and a study made 2014 showed that around $4.8 billion went to health care each year.

The best approach to avoid back injuries is to implement ergonomic training to encourage a good posture and mindful lifting.

3. Trip Hazards

One of the leading causes of workplace injuries is clutter and messy surfaces that create a risk for trips and falls. With cables, cords and other objects lying around, employees are at risk of tripping over these. Often the consequences of these accidents are mild, but there have been cases of severe injuries from office falls.

Begin by removing unnecessary obstacles that create a hindrance when moving around the office. For the cords and cables that are not removable, consider investing in cable covers to bundle the wires together.

The cable covers come in different material and colours and work on the carpet as well as wooden floor. Have a look at our range here.

TRIPSAFE™ PVC Cable Cover for Hard Floors

4. Repetition

If you find yourself seated in front of the computer several hours straight, you might want to begin taking regular breaks and moving around. Increased technology has an impact on our eyes as well as bodily pains. Repetitive motions are putting pressure on our bodies and can lead to severe injuries requiring medical treatment.

A good idea to avoid these injuries is to implement ergonomic training and taking regular breaks to let muscles and eyes rest.

5. Mental Illness

Not to be overlooked, mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression can appear from over-exhaustion at the workplace. It is not outwardly visible, but it is estimated that around 45% of Australians in working age will suffer from a mental illness at least once in their lives.

To prevent work-related stress and worry, it is crucial that the workplace environment is as safe and healthy as possible. Take time to consider if you feel safe and well at your current job. What can be done to change it, and how do we prevent accidents and injuries from happening?

The Team at TripSafe

Do not worry, baby-proofing the house does not have to cost you a fortune. It doesn't have to be especially complicated either, and it only requires a little bit of creativity and effort.

Here are our top tips for making sure your tiny person is safe and sound around the house.

Tennis Ball Paddings

Sharp corners are easy to come across with furniture around and can become a danger when the baby begins exploring the house. The quick solution to this is using tennis balls. Cut a slit in one and slide it onto the sharp corner, and the living room table is not a risk zone anymore.

If you don't like the look of tennis balls on the dining table, one smart idea is to paint them to have them blend in.

Duct-Tape Outlets

Keep your toddler from investigating electrical outlets by covering them with duct-tape — the quick and easy way for a safer environment for a baby. Get creative and find a way to make it align with the interior of your house.

Baby Gates

You have probably seen the child safety gates available to protect your baby from falling down the stairs. Unfortunately, these might be a bit over budget, and you might be better of creating one yourself out of fabric.

With the help of tension rods, the piece of fabric can be stretched in front of the stairs to prevent falling.

Cable Safety

Some babies prefer chewing cables over sweets and have the parents continually keeping an eye out for the next incident. With cables being a necessity for electronic devices, we recommend investing in cable covers for best safety.

The covers come in different materials and colors, and will not clear out your wallet entirely. Have a look at our selection here.

TRIPSAFE™ Cable Cover for Carpet

Paper Roll Elastics

How do we toddler-proof the toilet paper? The answer is hair elastics. One around the toilet paper roll will remove the need to get it back in place once your baby has unrolled it.

Knee Pads and Glue Socks

There are always ways to reuse outworn clothes. Mismatched socks can act as knee pads for your toddler when crawling around the floor. A pair of scissors is all you need!

With the help of a glue gun, you can make socks skid resistant by adding dots of glue to the sole.

Implementing these simple adjustments can help you baby-proof the home on a budget and will leave you less worried when your toddler is exploring your house.

The Team at TripSafe

Managing cables and organising wires at the workplace is something to put high up on the priority list. Cables create a risk of tripping, falling and injuring oneself, and most of all give the work environment an unprofessional and messy feel to it.

Safe cable management reduces the risk of severe injuries for the employees and minimises the chance for a fire occurring. Organising your cables will instantly tidy up your office, and using cable covers to do this will make cords last longer when they don't wear out as quickly. Lastly, clients will appreciate a clean and tidy office, which ultimately is beneficial for the business.

So with saying this, we thought we'd share our top tips when it comes to managing cables at the workplace!

1. Cable Tidy Unit

There are endless ways to create a cable tidy unit, all from purchasing a cheap one at the closest hardware store to creating your own with a multi-outlet extension cord and a plastic container.

It is important to understand that an extension cord and a multi-outlet socket by themselves create the most prominent risk for fires and injuries. Effectively covering or containing these will instantly reduce the risk of any 

2. Clips and bands

One of the quickest and cheapest tricks to organise your cables and get them out of the way is to use clips and cardboard bands to group cords together. With this method, wires can easily attach to a desk or a lamp near the outlet to get them off the floor and creating a trip hazard.

Purchase clips and bands at your nearest grocery or hardware store!

3. Desk Trunking

With trunking, cables covers easily inside these plastic or aluminium made pipes and columns that go along your desk or wall.

The funny thing with trunking systems is that you can modify and rearrange them in any way you'd like. And if you have some time to spare- do it yourself at home. Aluminium or PVC plastic is recommended to minimise the risk of fire hazards, but using a tool accessory bag or similar will work just as well. Get creative with duct tape and super glue!

4. Cable covers

This trick of ours will do more then safety-proof your home; it will style-proof it as well. The quick and easy way to remove the cable issue is to invest in cable covers that instantly covers up to five cables.

These covers come in different colours and can be placed anywhere in your house, both on the carpet and hard floors.

Reduce trip hazards by securing your cables to the carpet with the TripSafe Cable cover. This cover is quick and easy to use, leaves no traces of glue and allows usage multiple times. It can be cut to the desired length and comes in different colours.

TRIPSAFE™ cable cover for carpet

If you are looking to cover a non-carpet area, the PVC TripSafe Cable Cover is your most suitable option. This cover is made out of PVC, a hard plastic, and fits up to five cables. This cover is removable and allows usage multiple times.

TRIPSAFE™ PVC cable cover for hard floors

Have a further look here for more information and to view our products.

5. Hide your power strip

Inconvenient placement of your power strip might be the reason for the jungle of cords at the office, as well as the main risk of injuries. Get the power strip off the ground, and you'll immediately get the wires out of sight as well, or at least the plugs. Often power strips have holes on the back that allows these to be hung up on the wall and out of sight.

At TripSafe we encourage you to take the office safety, convenience and style to the next level! Read more and view our products at www.tripsafe.com.

At TripSafe, we are passionate about finding tips and tricks to make the cords disappear, without them actually going away. Below are our favourite ways of hiding cables and making your home or office look clean and professional.

1. Hide your power strip

Your power strip might be the reason for the jungle of cords in your house. Get the power strip off the ground, and you'll immediately get the wires out of sight as well, or at least the plugs. Often power strips have holes on the back that allows these to be hung up on the wall and out of sight.

2. Bundle cords together

Most cables and wires in the house are going to have to stay there, even if we want it or not. They are the source of life of our electronics, and in some cases, there are a lot of cables to deal with.

One trick that won't make the cables go away, but makes the mess seem less messy, is to bundle all of them together. It doesn't have to be more complicated than a cord wrap to tidy up the cable situation.

3. Create a docking station

Another way to organise all of the cables is to create a station where all the wires go. This arrangement might require some refurbishing, but it will make cords seem like a smaller problem.

Using this method also allows you to label the cables and create some structure in your living room.

4. Cable covers

This trick of ours will do more then safety-proof your home; it will style-proof it as well. The quick and easy way to remove the cable issue is to invest in cable covers that instantly covers up to five cables.

These covers come in different colours and can be placed anywhere in your house, both on the carpet and hard floors.

Reduce trip hazards by securing your cables to the carpet with the Tripsafe Cable cover. This cover is quick and easy to use, leaves no traces of glue and allows usage multiple times. It can be cut to the desired length and comes in different colours.

TRIPSAFE™ cable cover for carpet

If you are looking to cover a non-carpet area, the PVC Tripsafe Cable Cover is your most suitable option. This cover is made out of PVC, a hard plastic, and fits up to five cables. This cover is removable and allows usage multiple times.

TRIPSAFE™ PVC cable cover for hard floors

Have a further look here for more information and to view our products.

6. Accessory organiser bag

Ashley from the Gold Hive shared a trick we found very creative at TripSafe. With the use of an accessory organiser bag, an item mostly used by people wanting to organise large and small things together.

By screwing the bag underneath the table, the cables can be organised in the bag and out of sight.

Read more about this on the Gold Hive.

5. Hide the cords behind the wall

The best way to make your cables completely invisible is to hide them behind drywall. You do this by drilling or cutting two holes in the wall, one behind your electronic device, and one next to the outlet. Hereafter you can either leave the device on the floor or desk or hang it on the wall to make the floor space look tidy and organised.

7. Cut the cord

The last and final tip is to cut the cord entirely. There are plenty of devices today that are wireless and only require batteries to function. So if you're able to remove wired items for as far as you can you have quickly decreased the wire issue by half.

If you have a special trick for covering cables at home that wasn't mentioned here, please share your secret with us by sending an email through here.

Read more on TripSafe on how to declutter and organise your cables at home, and also to view our products.