It is your responsibility as an employer to maintain safety in the workplace. Developing a health and safety management system can significantly help you to ensure you are up to date on all the safety practices required in your work environment. The system will describe in detail the routines that the people in your work environment do to prevent injuries and work-related illnesses in their operations.
Every organization needs to have its unique system to identify the hazards of its operations. It should also have procedures for managing the safety and health of the employees. The methods depend on the nature and size of the business. Whereas just listening to your employees and responding to them may be sufficient for small organizations, larger enterprises in hazardous industries may require a full-time safety director to enforce laid down safety rules and regulations.
The following are simple tips to help you keep your business up to date on the latest safety practices;
Nurture managers who are committed to making your safety program work
Ensure that you and your managers are fully committed to the safety of your employees. Develop safety policies and invest finances to make the systems work. Try to address all previous injuries and safety concerns at the workplace.
Encourage employee participation
Everybody has a stake in the safety of the workplace. Therefore, it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure they work in a healthy and safe environment. Inform employees of all safety inspections, work-related illnesses, and any other safety issues. Hold the employees accountable and establish clear channels to report diseases, hazards, or any other safety concerns at work.
Identify the hazards and control them
It’s impossible to control something you are not aware of. You, therefore, need to note down all the safety hazards around the workplace. You can identify them by reviewing previous injury records to look for trends or reviewing reports from inspections or insurance claims. You also need to thoroughly inspect your work environment to ensure everything is operated by certified handling systems according to your company’s requirements.
Put control measures in place
It is easy to create a safe work environment once you have identified the hazardous and unsafe areas in your company’s operations. You will, however, need to prioritize the hazards you listed and decide the ones that are more dangerous than the others. You then also need to figure out which risk to fix immediately and the ones you will have to make a long term plan for.
The final stage is to correct all the hazards you have identified and put administrative controls to ensure the safety measures put forward are adhered to by all employees.