It’s possible to forget sometimes, but pretty much no business can function without its employees. For a business to thrive, the people running it need to feel like they’re able to operate in a safe, stable, comfortable environment, and it’s your responsibility as a business owner to create this kind of space.
There are certain steps you can take to go about doing this, and it’s worth being methodical from the very beginning. Starting with risk assessments, this is how you can go about ensuring employee safety in your workplace.
Take risk assessment seriously
To kick things off, it’s crucial that you take risk assessment seriously from the get-go. These assessments aren’t just some legal hurdle you need to jump over to keep HSE happy. They’re critical processes that help you to understand the kinds of risks you need to take seriously, providing a foundation for all further actions.
There are a number of different templates and resources you can find for various areas of concern, from HR issues to fire safety. Take each area and consider what you need in order to do the risk assessment properly, including assistance from an expert on the matter.
Consider advanced safety solutions
Once you know what kinds of safety issues you’re dealing with, you can start looking at solutions. Luckily, we now have a larger number of solutions available to us than ever before, and many of these are impressively technologically advanced.
For example, asset management solutions from companies like KEYper Systems can help business owners control access to vehicles, while also ensuring that maintenance schedules are kept up to date. It’s important to look for solutions with multiple benefits, to maximize the return on your investments.
Compile a safety policy
You will undoubtedly identify a lot of different risks and solutions during these processes, and you need to compile this data in a single, accessible location. This will typically develop into some kind of safety policy, and it’s worth being extra intentional with this process.
You want to create a document that both makes it easier to comply with the relevant regulations and is easy to search through to find practical solutions to issues that have already been identified – the perfect balance of practicality and legality.
Train your employees
Lastly, you can’t just adopt technological solutions and hope that they’ll do the whole job of keeping your employees safe for you. You also need to make sure that you provide your employees with extensive training, to empower them to keep themselves safe.
Whether this is training on how to use the safety solutions you’ve invested in, or on safe working practices, these programs will form a core part of any process to keep your employees safe.
Employee safety isn’t a one-stop job – you will constantly need to come back to it as situational factors change. Whether that’s new work technologies or new recruits coming into the business, make sure you commit to ongoing reassessment to ensure ongoing efficacy.
