Building a business is one thing, but there is a good chance that you can’t build your enterprise without a number of core employees. Indeed, your workforce truly is your livelihood and the lifeblood of your business. So, it is critical that you provide a safe working environment. At the end of the day, you want to prevent injuries, like falls, cuts, bruises and equipment disasters, because not only can this affect your employees, it could also cause your healthcare costs to skyrocket, which could be extremely detrimental for your business. Every year, businesses are forced to spend millions on healthcare costs from injuries. Here are five ways for employers to maintain a safe workplace.
- Let there be light. Proper lighting is critical when it comes to implementing workplace safety for your employees. Even on the sales floors – where there don’t seem to be too many risks – you want every detail to be shone upon. An employee can easily trip over a phone wire, a wrinkle in a carpet, the edge of a desk. In your factory and warehouse – where employees are around dangerous equipment – lighting is incredibly important.
- Provide safety equipment. Safety equipment is also vital, because you want your employees to be protected from things like dangerous equipment, chemicals – even heavy boxes can be a serious problem, especially for weak or sore backs. So, be sure to provide these items to employees when they begin their employment. You also want these items to be readily available to employees whenever they need them. The equipment could range from safety goggles to back supports. Gloves, kneepads and other items are also imperative. You may also want to inspire employees to wear durable clothing when they get to work.
- Make sure to provide proper training. Sure, your employees may know how to use a certain tool, but you never can be too safe. So, when you are training your employees, you want to make sure that the emphasis is on safety. This is especially important with certain tools that have the capacity to cause certain death, like power saws and other equipment. Also, if you have a warehouse, you want to make sure that employees know how to operate machinery appropriately.
- Place safety banners around your workplace. Any given workplace is rife with potential safety issues. So, you want to make sure that you place different banners around that alert people to the dangers. Even with training, it is easy to forget. In fact, you can visit SafetyBanners.org to purchase industry standard safety banners. When it comes down to it, these banners may just save an employee’s life and your business.
- Implement protocol. Protocol is important, because it will allow your business to keep a standard for safety. For instance, in your warehouse, you want to make sure that there is a protocol for lifting and moving large items, like boxes and crates. In the end, you could be increasing the risk for dangers in your workforce without these protocols.
