Executive Chronicles | How to Boost Workplace Safety | No matter what kind of business you’re in, safety in the workplace is one of the key factors that contribute to your performance. Every day, workers die or get injured at work, which is tragical, since most of such accidents could have been prevented. Apart from saving lives and health of your workers, you need to ensure that your company is in compliance with all relevant laws and regulations regarding safety at work. Otherwise, you become liable to compensation claims and exorbitant fines. To help you avoid these unfortunate situations, we’ve prepared the following list of tips you should follow to make sure your company provides a safe environment for work.
Training
All employees need to be trained properly to avoid injuries. Just like you train them to use new machines and equipment, you need to teach them how to protect themselves and everyone around them. Regardless of their experience, they need to undergo extensive training for all aspects of the job. Relying on their commons sense is risky, no matter how highly you think of them. That’s why you have to outline any techniques they can impart in order to make their job easier and safer.
Look for competent staff
When recruiting new employees, try to hire those who are not only good at the job they do, but also those who understand the importance of safety at work. Sometimes it means having to pay more, but you should always choose quality over any potential temporary saving. Having competent workers will reward you with fewer on-the-job accidents, which means the production process won’t be interrupted and you won’t have to face long sick-leaves and hospital expenses.
Insist on safety
It’s you job as a boss to enforce the safety rules and regulations and insist that everyone follows them at all times. Also, you need to lead by example, so make sure you yourself obey all those rules 24/7. Next, you need to always put safety first, even in the face of increased production. In doing so, you’ll set a great example to everyone around you.
Provide the right tools and resources
Unless you provide the tools your employees need to stay safe in the work environment, your employees will never be safe at work and you’ll pay the price eventually. Your employees need to have the right clothes, footwear, safety glasses and other things that are needed to keep them protected. For example, take a look at the available workwear Australia website and see if there is something your workers could benefit from. Remember that making these resources accessible immediately will further encourage safety compliance.
Be careful with rewards
Many bosses tend to praise and reward employees completing the job on time or even before a deadline, which is perfectly understandable. However, it can be potentially detrimental. If, for example, workers adopted the “whatever it takes” approach in completing the task and thus jeopardized their safety and those of others, such behaviour should not be rewarded. On the contrary, you have to take disciplinary measures against those workers and let everyone know that it’s better to be safe than produce more by exposing everyone to risk.
Signs
No matter how trained and experienced someone is, there are always moments when our concentration is not at the highest level. That’s why you should post signs around the warehouse or manufacturing facility that remind everyone of the everyday risks inherent in their jobs and what they should be doing to comply with safety regulations. It’s a small investment, but very useful.
Always try to improve
Safety is a process, rather than a state. The fact that a situation is stable at the moment doesn’t mean it will be the case forever. You need to be constantly on the lookout for ways to improve and promote a higher level of safety awareness for all. Bringing everyone together to discuss this issue is a great idea, since people working in the same environment on a daily basis are bound to have noticed potential problems and have, therefore, thought about how they could be resolved.
Properly maintain equipment and machines
You want your machines and equipment to function properly, so that you can maximize your production. However, this is also important from the aspect of safety. If you don’t keep up with regular maintenance, you’ll not only decrease efficiency and production, but also put your workers at risk when they use malfunctioning machines.
Reward safety
We said that you should never reward behaviour that promotes negligence towards safety regulation. Similarly, you should always reward those who have followed all of your safety rules and have provided efficient work consistently. Instead of focusing on productivity, you need to put emphasis on safety and reward the method of achievement rather than the end-result.
These are just some of the most important tips related to improving the safety in a workplace. The most important thing is not to take this issue lightly, even for a moment. Your company will never grow if the environment people work in is unsafe and you won’t achieve the results you set.
