It doesn’t matter what industry your business is in, or who your employees are - everybody wants to feel healthy and safe while they are working. As a business owner, this helps to ensure that your employees are as productive as possible - and worrying about what really matters. Here are six ways to improve workplace health and safety.
Communication
First and foremost, everyone in the workplace has to be open about communication. If they are not comfortable with stating when they are unsafe, then this is a culture/communication issue that could have long-term repercussions. The last thing that a business wants to suffer is employees that have felt unsafe for a long time, but have not felt comfortable about communicating this fact. Of course, for low-risk workplaces, it might just be about a conversation. Regardless, communication is key, whether you work in a low-risk or high-risk occupation.
Hiring Better
It’s an unfortunate truth that there are employees that simply want to do the bare minimum, and get out of the door the moment that work is over. While there might be nothing wrong with this mentality in their mind, an employer should be wary of hiring employees like this. While it might take paying them more, or offering more perks - an employer should make sure to provide some incentive to workers that really care about their occupation, and workplace safety. While it might be hard to judge someone’s character, hiring the right employees can save you lots of time and money in the long run. One simple way to ensure that you are hiring capable and competent drug employees is to utilize instant drug tests, for example.
Awareness
There’s a reason why there’s so much signage with regards to certain places and situations. Even if we might understand a situation in traffic, signs still inform us of how to drive and maneuver in the street. Similarly, you might know that a certain location isn’t safe to smoke, but you will still see “No Smoking” signs. It doesn’t matter whether it takes signs, seminars, booklets, or other methods - make sure that everyone in your workplace is aware of safety issues.
Technology
One of the great advantages of technology is that they can help it so that the workplace is safer. Of course, it is up to the business owner to invest in these various technologies to make sure that the workplace is as safe as possible. It might be that your employees start using wearable tech for increased accountability, or your workplace offers technology that allows for new communication possibilities. It’s no secret that paperwork isn’t the easiest way to communicate across job sites for example, so technology that allows for quicker and more efficient communication is an obvious example of how to improve safety.
Leadership
The truth is that if management isn’t focused on workplace safety, why would the employees? There can be open communication, and all of the procedures in the world, but if employees feel as though management doesn’t truly care about workplace safety, that might lead to the entire workplace caring less about safety, whether it is consciously or subconsciously. Management should take the lead and emphasize that workplace safety is important to them, so that employees can follow.
Health
While it might sound obvious, it has to be emphasized: employees need to remain healthy on the workplace. The truth is that for employees to remain safe, they have to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Of course, this isn’t about imposing a certain lifestyle on anyone, but simply being a workplace that ensures that workers aren’t tirelessly working while they are tired. No employer wants to find out that they have been overworking their employees, and that is what led to a work-related injury. There are also job sites where alcohol or drugs might be an issue, as well, and that obviously ties into overall “health” of employees, as well.