Protect Your Employees: 5 Health and Safety Suggestions for Businesses

Is workplace safety at the forefront of your company? If not, it should be.

A worker is hurt on the job once every seven seconds, according to the National Safety Council. That injury can cost time and money to your business. It can also cost the employee permanent injury or worse.

You want to make sure that your employees are always safe on the job. Read on to discover the top safety suggestions you can implement at your workplace.

1. Audit Your Workplace

You need to know what kind of safety hazards exist in your business. Start off with having a health and safety management system that helps you audit and identify any issues that can cause harm to your employees.

There are many types of hazards at your business, which you can categorize into physical, ergonomic, chemical, or biological.

Biological hazards are usually found in healthcare. This is the potential for employees to be exposed to viruses or bacteria.

Ergonomic hazards are for office workers. You want to make sure that their desks are set up properly and repetitive motions are limited.

Physical hazards relate to slips and falls. Finally, chemical hazards can refer to anything that can hurt employees, such as gasoline or oil.

2. Make Safety Part of the Company Culture

You can take what you learned in the audit and create a plan to eliminate those issues. This will show your workers that you take safety seriously.

It is also a big step in making safety a part of your culture.

3. Employee Training

Training your employees how to handle certain substances is a must. No matter what type of industry you’re in, there are OSHA Annual Training Requirements that you have to comply with.

These requirements train your employees to handle emergencies and deal with hazardous waste.

4. Get Employees Involved

Getting employees involved in creating a safe workplace is a great way to create a safety culture. After all, your employees are the ones in harm’s way. You’ll want to get their take on what’s working well and where improvements can be made.

You can send out a survey to employees and have one-on-one conversations with them. They are likely to offer feedback about the environment and offer safety suggestions of their own.

5. Create One Contact for Safety Issues

Do your employees know where to go if they see a safety issue? You want to create one point person who will handle employee concerns.

This will make sure employees feel heard and they know who they can turn to with their concerns.

Safety Suggestions for a Better Work Environment

You have a responsibility to your employees to provide a safe environment that allows employees to do their best work. It can be hard to manage with everything else that you have to do, but you must make workplace safety a priority.

These safety suggestions give you a path towards creating a better workplace for your team. Start off by identifying hazards and create a plan to eliminate those hazards. Don’t forget to get employees involved and train them.

Do you want more tips to help you run your small business? Check out the tools and resources page for the latest information.

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.