You have a duty to keep your employees safe at all times. If you don’t, you could be facing legal action very quickly. You don’t want to deal the moral responsibility of causing an employee injury, and all the financial costs involved. Everyone needs to feel happy and safe at work, and you’ll find that everyone’s productivity is improved as well. So how do you ensure employee safety? Let’s go ahead and discuss.
The Do’s
Before you even start looking at health and safety in the workplace, have you got the adequate skills to implement it? You might want to look at employing someone to look after this area of the business. If not, it’s important to undergo a training class for yourself and ideally a number of employees. They aren’t hard to complete, and they’ll provide you with invaluable knowledge that could save a life one day. Once you’ve got the required certifications, you can boast about them on your company website. Show your clients that you’re dedicated to the health and wellbeing of your employees, and that will come across well.
Once you’re ready, you’re going to want to equip your workplace effectively. Think about potential hazards. Buy signs and stickers to warn people of safety rules around certain areas in the business. You might want to line the floors with tape to show employees where they can walk safely. Buy hard hats or any other equipment needed to carry out specific tasks. You also have to have a first aid supply nearby in case of injury, and your employees must know where it is located.
The Don’ts
If you notice something dripping or leaking, or a stairway that’s creaking a bit more than normal, sort it out. It’s tempting to leave it as it doesn’t seem like a pressing issue, but you don’t know what could happen. For example, I’ve heard of company signage falling off the building and injuring employees after it had been leaning for a while. The boss never thought to fix it, because it didn’t seem like a big problem at the time. They learnt their lesson pretty quickly.
Don’t assume that everything is fine until you notice a problem. The key here is prevention. Do regular checks of everything. Assign tasks to qualified employees on a daily or weekly basis. You’re not going to spot everything simply by chance; you need to be looking for hazards all the time. Talk to your employees as well; they’re in contact with lots of equipment on a regular basis. They will be best placed to tell you if they’ve noticed any health and safety hazards in the workplace.
The key to good health and safety practice is taking it seriously. Once you’ve got the skills to protect your employees, all you need to do is implement them regularly. It’s not difficult, and it won’t take much time out of your weekly routine. Keep on top of it, and you should never have to worry about employee safety.
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