Four Ways to Keep a Safe and Healthy Worksite

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As employers, it is easy to get caught up in ensuring that operations are running well and productivity is at an all-time high. While this should be a top priority, workplace health and safety and other aspects of the business should also be given importance.

Employees have the right to be kept safe and healthy in their own workplace. Since they are the ones who keep the company running, it is an employer’s duty-and legal and moral obligation-as business owners to protect their staff as well as they can.

There are lots of ways that help uphold the health and safety of your business, and such methods are not as difficult as they seem.

Practice Effective Workplace Housekeeping

In a work setting, housekeeping means much more than dusting windows, cleaning the floors, and organizing clutter. Housekeeping is a crucial part of keeping a workplace safe for everyone, preventing injuries, and overall, improving employee morale and productivity. Whether you are running a traditional office or an industrial workplace, it is important to keep your work environment free from safety hazards and health challenges.

According to the National Safety Council, nearly thirty-two thousand people died in 2014 because of falls at home and at work, easily making falls the third leading cause of unintentional death related to an injury.

To prevent falls, slips, and trips, employers should ensure that aisles and exits are clear of unnecessary items and that damaged flooring is replaced immediately. Areas that may not be always cleaned can make use of antislip flooring. Meanwhile, workers can also help keep their workplace safe by reporting or cleaning up leaks and spills.

Learn How to Create a Standard Safety Policy

Find out more about safety rules and protocols intended per industry. You can visit the Occupational Safety and Health Administration website or consult with your insurance company and request for an inspection so you can be advised on what changes to make to keep your work environment safer.

Once this is all set, put your safety policies on paper, and distribute them to every employee, ensuring that they’ve read them and understood what the policies entail. Better yet, ask your employees for insight when writing a safety policy as they know best where accidents can occur.

Most of all, be an example to your workers by following your own safety procedures. Strictly enforce them with your employees even if it means having to fire noncompliant staff. Your company will be better off without one person who can compromise the safety of the whole team.

Eliminate Mental or Emotional Dangers

Safety hazards in the workplace are not just limited to the physical. A work environment can also pose challenges that target one’s psychological or emotional health, which should be avoided if you want to boost employee morale. While a little bit of stress can keep an individual focused and determined, too much of it can damage the mind and body.

Keep your staff’s mental health in tip-top condition by beating workplace stress. There are a lot of ways that can help you achieve this goal, which includes encouraging physical activity, organizing team-building activities, and offering financial and health benefits to your workers. Such activities do not only give your team members a break from workplace stress but also make them feel valued and satisfied with their jobs.

Hire the Right Employees

The hiring process can be a difficult and rigorous task for employers and managers. Selecting people to work for you can make or break your company-and may also compromise the health and safety of your employees when taken for granted.

Aside from looking into a candidate’s credentials and qualifications, hiring managers should also look into one’s background to avoid risking on a bad hire. As an employer, your best interest during this time should be keeping your workers safe and your brand reputation healthy. Not only will a bad hire taint and harm your business, but it can also incur unnecessary costs for your company.

Conducting a background check on potential employees will help keep your organization’s reputation intact, as well as decrease the risk of workplace violence or theft. Many small businesses also require employee drug testing to maintain a drug-free workplace and to ensure workplace safety.

Initiate Regular Health Screenings and Wellness Programs

For regular employees, an annual health check is usually required to maintain optimal health among team members. For example, an employee may be less productive because of respiration problems and may need ventilators with medical oxygen sensors, so it always pays to check on your staff’s health regularly. Meanwhile, wellness programs encourage employees to be more proactive in keeping their bodies healthy.

Health Is Wealth

A safe and healthy workplace leads to satisfied and loyal employees. Not only will your efforts in achieving such goal protect your workers, but it will also make them feel valued, appreciated, and more motivated to be productive at work.

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Melissa Thompson

Melissa is a mother of 2, lives in Utah, and writes for a multitude of sites. She is currently the EIC of HarcourtHealth.com and writes about health, wellness, and business topics.