As a business owner or manager, your mind is probably on making your business more efficient and profitable. As crucial as that is, are you undermining your efforts by neglecting your employees’ safety?
Having preventative safety strategies can keep you out of expensive lawsuits, not to mention keep your employees happy with their jobs. In this era of social media, word of mouth spreads like wildfire as well. If you aren’t taking care of your employees, you can bet that it will damage your reputation sooner or later.
To create a more protective workplace, try these safety tips you may be missing.
1. Have a Pro on Staff
As essential as you are to the safety of your workplace, you won’t do the best job if you’re trying to handle it all yourself. Have at least one person on your staff with specialized health and safety training.
One option is to hire someone who already has that qualification. Start your search with members of the American Society of Safety Professionals or ASSP. This page tells you more about the organization and what it offers.
For a more budget-friendly option, you could send an existing staff member to safety training courses instead.
2. Have a Simple Reporting Process
No matter what you do, chances are that you won’t spot all the safety hazards in your office. Who can? Your employees who are in the environment day in and day out.
Set up a clear process for them to report safety issues they notice. Make sure everyone knows what this process is, and the easier you make it, the better. You can even offer them the option to remain anonymous.
It’s a good idea to conduct safety surveys from time to time too. Specifically, ask employees about any ways you can make their jobs safer. There could be hazards they don’t think about until given the opportunity.
3. Create Emergency Plans
Most people know how important it is to have a fire escape plan, but for many workplaces, that isn’t the only disaster that could occur.
Think about your business’s environment and what could go wrong, whether it’s a spill of hazardous materials or a workplace shooter. Come up with an escape plan for your employees and have drills so they know what to do.
Don’t forget to post instructions about how to deal with these scenarios.
4. Have Regular Health and Safety Discussions
Not all health and safety precautions can fall on your shoulders. There are some safety measures you can’t necessarily enforce but that you want your employees to follow.
For instance, if your workplace is an office environment, encourage employees to get up and walk around for at least a minute or two every hour. This helps them avoid the health risks of sitting for too long.
To cover these types of precautions, schedule health and safety discussions as part of your regular routine. Make it a ten-minute standing meeting every Wednesday.
Taking Advantage of Workplace Safety Tips
Workplace safety is a team effort, but as a manager or business owner, you’re the ringleader. The safety tips above can help you and your employees work together to make a safer, healthier, better run workplace.
For more startup tips, check out other articles on our entrepreneurship blog.
