Contributed post
Employee safety is not something that you and your company should ever take for granted. However, this is one of the most important aspects of being an employer, even if your whole company works in an office where there are minimal risks. Of course, your employees’ safety is important as keeping them in a safe environment will ensure that no one ends up injuring themselves in a bad accident. But there will be some bigger complications that could come your way if one of your employees does end up injuring themselves in the workplace. If the injury is the fault of the company, then they will be able to take the business to court and sue for some compensation. As you can probably imagine, this will be extremely expensive for you and your business.
So, keeping your workers as safe as possible while they are in the workplace should be one of your main priorities. Here are some tips that will keep everyone out of harm’s way.
Offer Full Training
It’s important that you offer all of your employees full training for the job that they are expected to do. This will help them carry out all of their tasks to the best of their abilities. But you should also ensure that there is a section of your training dedicated to safety. This is especially important for new hires as it will give you a chance to inform them of your workplace’s safety policy and any extra things they need to know. This can be anything like how to evacuate the building. Giving this kind of full training ensures that everyone is on the same page and will know exactly what to do in the event of an emergency.
Get Plenty Of Insurance
There’s no way of knowing what will happen in the future – some accidents will occur even if you put lots of preventative measures in place. After all, that’s why they are called accidents! So, you should take out plenty of business insurance. There are lots of different kinds of insurance you can get to protect your company from various mishaps, but to ensure that you aren’t financially ruined by an employee injuring themselves, you need to get employers liability insurance. This will protect you and your employees from injuries at your workplace and it will also cover any employees while they are working off site or cause injuries to members of the public.
Invest In Safety Equipment
If you work on a building site use another workplace that is littered with various hazards and risks, it is absolutely imperative that you invest in the correct kind of safety equipment for the work that all your employees carry out. For instance, if you are a construction firm and your workers are mainly builders and laborers then you will need to buy secure scaffolding so that all fo your team can be as safe as possible while they get on with their work. If you need some new safety equipment for your building company, there are various firms around the country that can supply it, such as Heaton Products Ltd (view their website), but it’s worth checking who operates in your local area. No matter what industry or sector you are working in, you will be able to find specialist safety equipment to protect your workers.
Give Everyone Regular Breaks
One of the big factors that oftens causes some accidents around the workplace is tiredness. This can be a big factor if your employees are regularly driving for work or using heavy machinery. One way to combat tiredness is to make sure that your employees are taking regular breaks. This gives them the chance to grab a coffee and freshen up. By the time they return to their job, they will feel a lot more energized. Taking regular breaks is even important for office workers, even though they may just be sitting at their computer all day. That’s because it gives their eyes a break from the computer screen. If they were to stare at their computer for hours on end, they could end up suffering from eye strain, which will count as an injury!
Practice Drills As Often As Possible
As everyone says, practice makes perfect. And that is also the case with your drills. It’s super important that you regularly practice fire drills and other emergency drills with your employees, as this will teach everyone what they should do in the event of a fire or other emergency. It doesn’t matter if everyone has carried out the drill ten times before – they are incredibly important and definitely save people’s lives! Ideally, you should carry out a fire drill every six months. If you are continually hiring new employees, then it could be worth carrying out your drills more often to bring everyone up to speed.
Ensure Good Accessibility
No matter whether your company operates from an office or a building site, you need to make sure that there is always good accessibility to and from it. Make sure that all of the exits and entrances are clear and that there is no clutter or anything blocking them. This could be a major hazard if your team ever need to evacuate the workplace. For instance, if an exit is blocked and your employees need to get out, they might end up wasting valuable time trying to remove the blockage. This could, in the worst-case scenario, cost some people their lives. One way to make sure that your workplace has good accessibility is to always keep it tidy and free from any clutter. If possible, encourage your employees to have a quick tidy up of the space at the end of each day before they leave for the evening.
Employee safety should be one of your main focuses as an employer. Use all of the above tips, and you won’t have to worry about your company becoming a danger site! Remember – always make your employees number one at all times!