Health and safety is one of the most important elements of the business world. Simply just following common practices laid out by regulators, as well as the safety net of some insurance on top, will put your mind at total rest. And that keeps you operating normally day in and day out, making sure all your staff are safe at work and doing their best the whole time they’re on shift, and it keeps your company operating within the law, building you a good reputation and a much better chance of longevity. Not to mention, the safer you are, the less money you have to fork out to run your business!
All in all, if you’re safe, you’re successful, as only then can you choose to take the right risks with your finances or marketing campaigns to bring your business up to bigger and better heights. So in your aim to start right at the centre, and to make sure your work environment is all safe and sound, here’s a few ideas you may want to follow if you’re just starting out.
Know the Common Accidents
Whatever it is you do at work, or however your company operates, be sure to know the most common accidents and emergencies that occur in work environments like yours. Even within the office, there’s plenty of areas where trips and falls can occur, as well as some expensive yet malfunctioning equipment – you can very easily get shocks from a plug socket coming out of the wall, or a broken wire down the back of the printer!
Be sure you have all the right equipment to mark out when a part of the office isn’t safe either, such as wet floor signs and emergency exit lights. You always want your office to be a clear place of safety, seeing as you need to comply with the law as well, and encouraging lawsuits by accidentally missing out isn’t effective for your profits and costs margin.
You’re mostly going to want to pay attention to external work sites, and the added health hazards of operating in an unregulated environment. For example, if you’re a construction business, and you’re trying to build a good reputation among your local community, find out where people are most at risk. You want both your workers and any of your clients to feel safe on a construction site, and you can take a look here if you want more info surrounding this idea.
Make Sure Your Staff are Involved
Your staff need to be involved in plenty of safety practices, as well as the planning and preparation for setting up these kind of procedures. You want them to always be informed, whenever they’re at work, and making sure they’re present and correct for any safety demonstrations or planning meetings is the best way to do so. Simply, make sure your managers, and any junior positions as well, are always made aware of what they should do in case of an accident or emergency!
At the same time, you’re going to want them to be able to pitch in their own ideas for keeping the working environment as safe as possible, seeing as they’re the ones working in it 8 hours a day, 5 times a week. They know the ins and outs of the office or the construction site better than you do, so be sure you’re allowing them to suggest changes and differences to the plan you’ve laid out in front of them. If they know something isn’t going to work because of the way they operate as a team on a daily basis, listen to them.
Hold a Good Cleanliness Standard
Cleanliness is next to Godliness as they say, and because of this, you’re going to want to always keep your work environment as clean and tidy as possible. For example, you want people to never have too many items or clutter within their own desk stations, in case of both a fire or the need to exit quickly, and it simply makes the whole area look a lot better in terms of company aesthetics.
Not only that, but if your staff are encouraged to tidy up after themselves, the working environment is going to be a lot more productive as a whole as well. People will take a lot of initiative on board, and clear up paper that’s been strewn across the floor, and shoulder the responsibility around them – it helps to make the environment a lot fairer as well.
But at the same time, you’re also going to have to pitch in. You want your office design to encourage fast paced work, and if that means the printer or fax machine wires are pulled across the floor, you’re going to have to make a change. Set up a nerve centre of the office, probably within an unused corner, where you can keep all of this equipment, with wires neatly sorted via a divider or into a box, so no one can trip and no plugs can be accidentally pulled!
Ready to Be Safer at Work?
Everybody is! Both you and your employees won’t always have the luxury of being completely aware of the environment around them, so make it a lot easier to navigate through your working space without coming into contact with some kind of hazard. You want people to be able to get to work without being interrupted, and you never want to see one of your staff members injured as a result of this kind of negligence!
Be sure to use these tips and others like them if you’re just starting out in your business, or you can spot potential hazards on a day to day basis when your company is operating. It’s a simple process to go through, as long as you know what you’re doing, and have the opinions of your staff on board too.