As an employer, you have the responsibility to make sure your employees are safe in the workplace. It is something that should be at the top of the list when you are running a business, you need to ensure you have the right equipment, safety and edge protection, safety protocols with training, and regular reviews.
By Team Savant
Image: Kin Li
Some of the areas you need to focus on include:
Conduct Assessments
The very first thing you should do is to assess the safety level of your workspace as it is now. Look at things such as safety catches on the windows, fire points/equipment, and wires that lead to office areas. Regardless of how bad or good your results are, you still need a plan of action to correct any issues and a time to conduct a reassessment. You should think about finding an efficient way for your staff to report any issues, such as a dedicated area on the intranet or an email address they can report to.
Look At Behaviours In Your Employees
Many employers don’t relais that an essential part of your employee’s safety is the behaviors within them. You need to be able to identify any issues and tackle them. It doesn’t require you to invade anyone’s privacy, but, sometimes through no fault of their employees can get complacent and put themselves in danger. Whether it’s through lack of training, forgetting procedures/protocols, using narcotics or alcohol, or mental health. A big part of keeping your employees safe is to make sure you get to know them so you can recognize anything that isn’t ‘normal’. Well-being checks are a great way to do this.
Stay Aware
There are many areas you need to train your employees in. From the basics of their job role to how to use the equipment. Having a training program in place that includes induction training, ongoing training, and future training needs, you can stay aware and focused on ways you can provide your employees with what they need to stay safe in the workplace. Don’t forget to include internet safety as part of the safety measures.
Another thing you need to be aware of to keep your employees safe is to make sure their environment is safe. Staff can be at risk if they have to engage with customers, and customers can be unsafe around your staff. Therefore by investing in public liability insurance which covers both your staff and customers.
Have Leaders
It has been proven that a team is more successful with a leader. Each employee should know the basic knowledge when it comes to health and safety in the workplace, however, a leader can coordinate training and keep an eye out for any extra needs. It may be that they are in charge of identifying any training needs or being the person to who other report issues, that bit of extra responsibility can go a long way. These people are commonly fire marshals for the building and take charge if a drill or real fire were to occur.
Accidents in the workplace cannot always be avoided or predicted, this is why it is important to have safety measures in place. These four tips should always make it on your list of ways to make your workplace safer for your employees. Do you have any other tips that could help? Please share them in the comments below.