Most business owners just focus on productivity and implementing new strategies to make their employees work harder. This approach may be efficient in the short-term but will soon fail. After all, your employees are people, not robots. If you want to invest in your company’s productivity and quality of service, you need to meet your employee’s basic needs. In other words, you need to make sure there are no risks of getting hurt or sick on the job. 
1. Come up with a procedure
You should always work towards preventing health and safety issues from ever happening, but sometimes that’s simply impossible. In these scenarios, it’s important to have a coherent plan of action. Coming up with a procedure for dealing with these emergencies will help minimize the consequences and return business as usual as soon as possible.
This all implies you should know exactly what to do in cases of fires or other work emergencies. What you’ll do depends on the type of venue your workplace is at and its location. It might be a good idea to ask a professional for help in planning or to hire someone to do that job for you. You can even have a first aid technician on the worksite present at all times.
2. Maintain your facilities
Regardless of where you’re doing your business, you need to pay attention to the state of your facilities. This is especially true if you’re in an old building with a weakened structure. Old pipes, crevices, and spaces between the walls can all be potential risks for injury or disease. This is because pests will have easy access to your workers.
Whether we’re talking about an office or a construction site, the consequences could be fatal. Rats can sneak in and chew the wiring important for your work, causing potential short-circuits and fires, while bugs can spread disease and interfere with the work process. Making sure no pests can be found on the worksite will make your employees much more relaxed and productive. They won’t have to stop work just to deal with another issue and you won’t have to spend more money on solving an additional problem.
3. Train and educate your workers
Most injuries are caused by untrained workers who don’t know what they’re doing. So, in order to minimize the risk of injury, you need to battle ignorance. Do this by training new employees and educating old ones. You may have a skilled crew in your hands, but everyone needs a little reminder on safety. Also, make sure to encourage safe behaviour on the job. You can do this by rewarding their good behaviour with a compliment or pat on the back.
This way, your workforce won’t be on sick leave or at home, healing from a work injury. You’ll have a strong and healthy crew, ready to take on any project you give them. You’ll also get to avoid potential lawsuits. This all saves you a lot of time, energy, and money while increasing productivity.
4. Get proper and quality equipment
More and more countries are realizing just how effective having proper equipment can be. Take Australia, for example. It’s realized the equipment is the key to preventing injuries and promoting health. If your employees wear good quality equipment necessary for their job, they’re far more likely to do their job well because they’ll have some help.
In fact, Aussies take it so seriously that control measures have been implemented to make sure everyone stays safe and healthy. That’s why you’ll find that Australian safety boots, hard hats, high visibility clothing, and safety harnesses meet all the necessary regulations. As a result, you won’t hear that anyone’s gotten sick or injured at work, and productivity is at an all-time high.
5. Maintain the hygiene
Maintaining the hygiene of any work venue is essential from keeping sickness at bay. Disease spreads faster in unclean environments so you need to counter that. Pay special attention to bathroom areas, and kitchens if there are any. If not, make sure the place where your workers take their lunch break is up to standard.
If the circumstances allow it, you can hire a cleaning service to regularly take care of your workplace. This takes the pressure off you while still making sure your employees are working in a clean environment. Finally, you should also encourage your workers to clean up after themselves and educate them on the importance of clean workstations. This way you’ll minimize the risk of disease entirely.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a few things to pay attention to when it comes to making sure your employees remain safe and healthy. The attitude you have towards their well-being will surely reflect how they feel about you. If your employees respect and like you, they’re far more likely to do their job well and be motivated to give it their all to succeed. We’re confident that all your hard work will pay off in the long run if you follow some or all of the tips above.
About the author: 
Liam Smith is a young and aspiring Australian blogger with a passion for everything related to home improvement, design and style. He has a B.Sc. in Interior design and is an avid reader.