A good business values its employees, and part of being a good employer means providing them with a safe environment to work in. No one wants to spend day after day in a setting that threatens their health, and nor should they have to. Workplace accidents should never happen: it’s not fair to your employees, it’s incredibly damaging to staff morale, and if it comes to litigation then it can prove very costly. If nothing else, it’s also a taint on your reputation, and any employer with a degree of compassion should feel a heavy burden of guilt if an avoidable accident injures a member of their staff.
However, most workplace accidents are not caused by deliberate acts of neglect or a wilful refusal to address issues. Rather, they’re catalysed by ignorance: ignorance of how to avoid them, ignorance of practices that could potentially be dangerous, or ignorance of their potential.
Invest in Regular Maintenance
One of the most frequent causes of accidents in the workplace is old or faulty machinery. When this malfunctions, it can prove very dangerous: loads can be dropped, attempts to fix it can cause injury, and having to work with new and unfamiliar equipment in its place can pose its own dangers. The best way to avoid these problems is to pay for regular maintenance work. Maintenance work is the best way to iron out any issues before they develop, and is also a useful tool for identifying any equipment or machinery that needs replacing.
Invest in Proper Safety and Lifting Equipment
Some of the most common workplace injuries are entirely avoidable, if only employers invested in the right safety and lifting equipment. Masks and gloves should always be supplied when dealing with any noxious materials or irritants. Equally, lifting equipment, available from companies like Handling Equiment Online Ltd, should be available to avoid common injuries to the back, knees and neck, and crush injuries to the toes, feet, and fingers.
Provide Workplace Safety Training
The old adage that ‘prevention is better than cure’ certainly rings true when it comes to workplace safety, and one of the simplest yet most effective ways to avoid injuries is simply to educate your employees. All of your safety practices should be easy to access, and every new staff member should be informed of them during their induction. However, training should also be on going, to keep safety in the forefront of people’s minds and stop laxity from creeping in. You may want to provide some of this information yourself, but it might be more memorable if you bring in outside speakers who really know their stuff – they might even be able to help you improve on your current safety measures, or give staff some good ideas for doing the same.
Follow these top tips today to create a happy, healthy workplace for your employees.
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