Ensuring that employees are safe and well must be the highest priority in all workplaces. Reduced sick leave and good control over workplace safety and processes provide time and resources for development, growth, and the opportunity to attract newly qualified staff.
Regardless of how many safety guidelines and practices the company has established, they won’t do any good if the employees aren’t invested in them. The safest work environments are created when the employees work to communicate and adhere to safety standards. By following such safety tips, a successful safety program can be developed that will encourage staff to report hazardous situations and behaviors, and promote safe practices every day at work.
In this post, we share basic guide tips to improve workplace safety, which can positively impact employee health, productivity, and revenue.
1. Build a Great Team
The people you employ make your company and this applies to health and safety as well. Hiring the right people is essential for improving and maintaining safety at work and having people who don’t share your philosophy on safety at positions where safety is key, might lead to a domino effect on your entire business culture.
You must employ people who are well-informed and aligned with the safety measures that you’re working on implementing so they actually carry them out in their day-to-day conduct. Therefore, you must be careful as to who you hire since employees are a crucial part of a good safety culture.
2. Beware of Hazardous Substances
This is perhaps not something that we immediately think of when discussing workplace safety but a significant number of hazardous and toxic substances are used by employees in their workplaces daily which can cause serious health issues, such as nervous system damage, asthma, brain damage, and skin problems.
The first thing that employers need to make sure of is that the substances and mixtures that could cause chemical hazards are properly labeled and stored.
For instance, if your business uses or manages any amount of chemicals,storing chemicals properly must be a top priority for maintaining a safe work environment. If stored poorly, chemicals can cause an explosion, a fire, and severe injuries.
Also, you must make sure that every substance container has a warning label so that the hazardous properties can be identified. In addition, it’s imperative for employers to ensure that the employees are fully aware and understand the risks from the substances to which they could be exposed and be informed about how to use equipment and the emergency procedures for the workplace.
3. Track Safety Training
Introducing safety training programs is great when trying to improve workplace safety but this should be monitored closely, especially in mid and large-size companies. This isn’t a new concept but training has evolved quite a lot over the past few decades.
Nowadays, there are many leading safety courses and certificated available online which makes it convenient as employees can carry out their training at a time that suits them and wherever they are. As a business owner, your job is to ensure the workers receive the appropriate training for their position and role and encourage them to work safely, and keep operations run as efficiently and hazard-free as possible.
To ensure that they’re on track with their training, you can monitor your employees’ training records with excellent software options which will provide you with in-depth records. This is a great way to improve safety at work, as you can make sure everyone’s training is up-to-date.
4. Establish Best Practices and Reward Safe Work
While your employees are the ones who make or break the company’s safety culture. They must be provided with clear guidelines and the company owners must establish best safety practices that work for everyone and meet the local regulations as well. Best practices must be in written form and act as a guide for recruits and they are a referral point for existing employees to read whenever they are in doubt about a safety issue. For example, when using heavy equipment such as a sandblasting machine in construction sites, it’s important to have a sandblasting safety checklist that employees can use as a guide to examine the machine before operating it. This is to ensure that the equipment is safe to use and help prevent accidents.
Lastly, one of the most effective ways to improve workplace safety is to encourage your employees to report unsafe conditions, reinforce positive behaviors, and actively reward them for their good safety conduct. This is way more impactful than having them punished or reprimanded when they get something wrong.
Final Words
To help ensure your workforce is protected at all times and employees return home safely each day, as a business owner, you must be fully invested and play an active role in upholding the company’s workplace safety program and always look for ways to improve it. Workplace safety is of the utmost importance and these basic guide tips will offer myriad benefits and contribute to a safer working environment, greater productivity, fewer injuries, and illnesses.
Article Submitted By Community Writer
