The Little Yet Most Essential Investments In Staff Safety
Staff safety is important. It’s non-negotiable. It’s absolutely crucial to your continued operation as a firm. While there is a chance, perhaps even a likely one, that in your years of operation someone will encounter a medical issue or injury on your premises or while working for you, we must never accept that fact. We must aim for a golden target of zero injuries, medical issues or safety hazards in our firms, year after year, and accept nothing less. If something happens and we fail, we must double our efforts to ensuring this result.
Often, business owner think this means investing in the most grand solutions or preventative considerations ahead of time. That can work. Investing in quality safety equipment, for instance, is an essential and absolutely necessary factor. Yet it’s also true that there are many smaller investments that can help us achieve a worthwhile result, and it’s those we would like to discuss in this post. This way, we can make sure that a cohesive, top-down, bottom-up approach is found, and that staff safety is all but guaranteed.
Fire Safety Essentials
It’s quite clear that fire safety is essential and not only that, but it must never be taken for granted. For this reason, continually investing in the upkeep or installation of your fire alarm systems is essential. Remember, each fire alarm solution is bespoke and curated for your business, including how many resources you need, where they will be installed, and considering how to signpost your building should the unfortunate need for evacuation take place. The more we can understand and prepare for this, the least amount of risk we can expose our staff or visitors to.
Refreshments & Competent Breaks
It may sound as if comfort has nothing to do with safety, and on the surface you’d be right. But it’s also true that burnout, office ennui, a bad office workplace or having inadequate access to basic amenities should all be considered outcomes you need to work against. For this reason, providing good, accessible filter water, investing in ergonomic furniture to encourage staff health over time, making sure they have access to competent breaks throughout the day, and listening to their requirements or their raised issues through HR can help you contribute to the healthiest office environment possible. That’s very important, of course.
Proper Signposting
Proper signposting is essential when it comes to safety. Small, peeling signs that declare safety equipment must be worn in an area is not good enough. It must be loud, vibrant, hard to miss, and placed everywhere someone may be able to access a given room. Proper signposting must also give way to correct management, such as not allowing access to a manufacturing environment without someone being confirmed as wearing protective gear. In this respect, signposting takes plenty of the mental busiwork out of the correct procedure – which can help defend against lapses in judgement.
With this advice, we hope you’ll feel more confident making those essential investments in staff safety.
Categories: Outside Contributors