Improving health and safety standards can help any business. Everyone can benefit, from small start-ups to industry leaders, by taking a few measures to make their workplace safer and more hygienic. It’s actually pretty easy to improve your business’s health and safety standards, but you need to be aware of your legal obligations to ensure that your employees and customers are safe at all times. Remember, you can be fined heavily if you fail to meet your legal obligations, so it pays to stay on top of health and safety.
Here’s How to Improve Your Business’s Health and Safety Standards:
Have Your Equipment And Workplace Cleaned and Maintained Regularly.
Health and safety compliance is not just a legal requirement but also something that can cost businesses money, incur fines and be detrimental to a company’s reputation. To avoid these consequences, businesses should regularly have all business equipment and machinery serviced. Businesses must ensure that their equipment is in good working condition. Otherwise, it could pose a serious risk to employees and customers. As for businesses that deal with construction, demolition, remodeling, or otherwise generate a lot of waste, they need to figure out a proper waste management plan. Whether it’s by using a Cookeville dumpster rental company or a similar rubbish removal service, businesses need to stay compliant and maintain health and safety at the workplace. Let us explain this better with an example. Say that you have rented a building where 50 employees work. It’s crucial to prioritize their well-being by maintaining a clean and hygienic environment. This involves various tasks such as regular mopping of floors, cleaning carpets with the help of office carpet cleaning providers, dusting walls and windows, and ensuring the HVAC system is serviced on a consistent basis. This way, you could eliminate the chances of your employees falling sick every now and then and help them increase their productivity.
Inspect Building and Maintain Them.
It’s your responsibility to ensure the welfare of your workers and customers. You must put safety first above profit, so poor finances are no excuse for poorly maintained buildings. Organisations have an legal obligation to ensure that their buildings are safe, meaning they should be fit for purpose and safe to be occupied. If you own an office, for example, you must ensure the building is adequately heated, cooled and ventilated. There should be no leaks and the facilities should be clean for workers to use. If you own a factory, it might not be possible to heat or cool the space, so instead, you will be expected to keep your workers comfortable by providing access to water and by providing frequent breaks. Ultimately, everything from the electrics and pipes to the roof and flooring should be safe and not pose a danger to health.
Have First Aid, Fire Safety, and Evacuation Plans in Place.
Regular safety checks are vital, especially if you’re working in a situation with the risk of fire. With risk comes responsibility, so your fire extinguishers, sand buckets, fire blankets, sprinkler systems, fire alarms and fire doors should all be present, accessible and in working condition. Similarly, first aid equipment should be provided in all workplaces. Where a risk assessment mandates it, eye wash stations and defibrillators should also be present, whilst a certain number of employees must be fully first aid trained. Also, keep in mind that first aid kids are not the same as trauma kits. This means that if the nature of the work is quite dangerous and there is a risk of life-threatening injuries, no matter how small, then trauma kits should also be within reach and proper training on how to use them should be provided. Meanwhile, a fire drill helps employees know what to do in case of a fire and also helps employees practice their evacuation routes. This is especially important for disabled employees and customers who may need an evac-chair to get downstairs if lifts are out of order, so make sure evac-chairs are installed in all necessary places, along with clear signage to ensure the evacuation route is visible even in thick smoke.
With these steps in place, your business will be a safer place to be. Workplace health and safety are of high importance for both employers and employees. Workplace accidents are a real risk, but with the right measures, they can become a thing of the past. Companies that do not follow health and safety guidelines may spend more money hiring people, inspecting vehicles, and working overtime. The regulations in health and safety are applied to help employees avoid accidents and help workers remain healthy and safe.