Five Steps to a Safe and Healthy Workplace
Every business owner, no matter how small or big his business is, needs to prioritize and seriously take care of the workplace’s health and safety. This is actually the first aspect you should take care of before you start the business, so you’ll be sure that nobody will ever be endangered while they’re at work.
Therefore, in today’s post, we’re presenting you 5 steps which will guide you towards a safe work environment and a healthy atmosphere that anyone can work in.
Design the Workplace Safely
It all starts with the way you choose to design the workplace. If your priority is to promote a safe and healthy atmosphere in the workplace (as it should be), then you know what to focus on while you design it.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself in order to create a functional, safe, and healthy design:
- What are the best triggers for motivation, productivity, focus, and efficiency you can implement in the workplace design?
- What is the healthiest atmosphere to work in for your employees’ minds and bodies?
- What equipment, machines, substances, and materials will be needed and what measures should be taken for using everything safely?
Provide the Right Gear
To promote a safe and healthy atmosphere in the workplace, you need to think in terms of quality and not quantity. It is extremely important to provide the right gear even if is for the office or for the work side.
As Mark Devens, the HR manager at assignmentgeek.com.au, advises, “You’d better not look at the price and prepare a flexible budget. Otherwise, the cheaper products will be extremely tempting. You see, the cheaper the gear is the lesser it will last, and the more pollutant and dangerous it will become over the years.”
Make sure you do good research on the company you’ll be using before buying your equipment and materials, just to make sure your employees won’t get cancer after using Monsanto’s cleaning products. As well, buy only the gear that is truly necessary and fits your purposes best.
Provide All the Necessary Training
Even if the employees are qualified to work with the machines and equipment used in the workplace, you need to provide training for all the employees, especially if some of the gear may cause some severe injuries.
As you’re the employer and the one responsible for all the aspects of your workplace, you must do everything that stands in your power to prevent any possible unfortunate incident. Therefore, you must provide:
- Right training
- Written instructions
- Safe work procedures
- First aid kit
- Open discussions about risk prevention.
- Encourage the employees to speak up if they feel unsafe.
Regularly Inspect and Renew the Gear
In order to prevent any possible hazard in your workplace, you must make sure that everything is working perfectly. So, you must plan a regular inspection to check if every gear is working on safe terms.
As well, renew the damaged gear as soon as possible. Of course, the safest would be to renew the gear before it gets broken and has the chance to represent a danger for your employees and even for you.
Investigate Incidents and Keep Records
No matter of the incident’s gravity, you should always conduct an investigation. This is crucial because you must acknowledge the real cause and course of events and figure out what measures you must take to ensure it won’t happen again.
Moreover, you should keep records of any incident, any first aid treatment, any incident investigation, any inspection, and any provided training. This will help you identify a solution to prevent any unfortunate event from now on.
Conclusion
Everyone should feel safe and healthy while they’re in the workplace. This is the only way you can keep your employees productive and focused on work and growth. Not to mention that if you fail to take care of such important aspects like safety and health, you’ll have to deal with a lot of unfortunate events that will cost you money and your reputation.
Take our tips and tricks into consideration and do what’s right for your business. One mistake could cost you everything, so better not risk it!
Take our tips and tricks into consideration and do what’s right for your business. One mistake could cost you everything, so better not risk it!
About the writer:
Mary Whitman is a blogger and freelancer from Adelaide, South Australia. In her spare time, she enjoys talking about Sustainable Development and Art. Find Mary on Twitter.
