If you’re in charge of setting up a new workplace, it’s important to ensure that your finished workplace complies with occupational health and safety regulations. Having an effective workplace goes beyond office organization and decor.
How to manage OH&S when setting up a new workplace: 4 Tips to remember
- Ensure that the foundations of your workplace are protected, particularly if your business is high traffic
It’s well worth ensuring that the foundations of your workplace, such as your flooring and your walls are adequately protected. As an example, you may want to invest in heavy-duty wall sheeting products and internal wall sheeting products, which will protect your walls from damage and will decrease your staff members and customers chances of becoming injured from weak walls which may collapse. If your business is high traffic and will receive a lot of foot traffic, it’s crucial to ensure that your business is structurally sound. As high traffic workplaces will deteriorate at a faster rate, than your average workplace if you don’t invest in quality internal wall sheeting.
- Familiarise yourself with Australian regulations
Australian businesses must comply with OH&S regulations. So it’s well worth familiarizing yourself with the OH&S regulations in the state which your plan on setting up a new workplace. As legislation differs from state to state. Regardless of which state you plan on doing business in, you must ensure that your workplace does not put your employees’ health and safety in jeopardy and that you have plans put in place to safeguard your employees’ health and wellbeing. Also keep in mind, that if one of your employees, is injured due to your failure to provide safe working conditions, you may be liable for damages, under Australian law.
- Conduct regular inspections
Many businesses make the mistake of conducting an initial inspection, once their new workplace has been completed and then fail to conduct regular inspections. Office safety is very important and It’s crucial to conduct workplace inspections, every few months to ensure that workplace conditions, don’t deteriorate over time. If health and safety hazards are identified as a result of an inspection, it’s important to have the issues rectified as soon as possible as it’s not safe to have your staff members work in an unsafe environment. If possible, temporarily close down your workplace, so that maintenance can be safely be carried out, without your employees being on-site. As it’s unsafe for workers to walk around your workplace, whilst maintenance is being carried out.
- Invest in building a quality work-site which will stand the test of time
If you try and cut corners in order to save money, you’ll end up having to spend a small fortune on maintenance. Whereas if you invest money in purchasing high-quality building materials, you’ll end up saving money in the long term as your new workplace, won’t need as much maintenance in order to comply which Australian OH&S regulations.
So if you’re in charge of ensuring that your new workplace will comply with OH&S regulations it’s well worth taking the 4 handy tips listed above into consideration. Before you spend money on building a safe workplace, which will require little long-term maintenance.
