If you own a business, you know how important it is to maintain a safe and comfortable workplace. When workplace injuries happen, not only does it affect your business in terms of production and loss, but your employees are affected by lost wages and medical bills. So, here are a few ways you can keep your business and its employees functioning smoothly:
1. Education
Make sure to educate your employees and staff on a safety plan that can be implemented by everyone in the workplace. The plans should be simple and easy to follow and should include instruction on body mechanics. This can help reduce strain and other muscle related injuries during operation.
It’s important to make sure all of your employees understand how to properly perform the physical tasks that may be required to complete their duties. Therefore, annual training that implements machinery, tools, or safety drills can be beneficial for new hires, as well as, long-term employees. Additionally, if certain employees can’t meet the demands due to physical ailments, health conditions, or other disabilities, provide adequate accommodations for them to perform the task.
Don’t forget to inform your employees about the options they have when an injury does occur. In fact, our insurance agency can help your business provide proper workers’ compensation coverage, so you aren’t liable for an accident.
2. Inspection
Make sure to do routine checks of equipment, vehicles, or other tools needed to complete a job. Everything will need maintenance eventually, but if parts or tools are never checked, production will stop and someone may get injured as a result.
This is especially important for company owned vehicles. If you own a personal vehicle, you probably wouldn’t go years without changing fluids, brakes, or other important components in a vehicle. So, why would you ignore maintenance on your company vehicles? Don’t put the life of your employees or those around them at risk while they’re on the road – make sure your vehicles are properly maintained.
3. Prevention
First, it’s imperative to keep an orderly workplace. Pathways and floors should be free of debri, spills, wires, or anything else you or your employees could get injured on. Make sure to post legible and proper signage at different areas throughout your business to remind everyone what they can and cannot do in certain areas.
Additionally, if your employees are working with dangerous equipment or chemicals, it’s important to make sure they’re always wearing the proper protection. Not only does proper protection prevent accidents, it can save lives.
Gloves, goggles, steel toed boots, hard hats, etc. should always been worn when necessary, and you should always inspect safety gear before your employees wear it. What good is safety gear if it’s defective or broken? Take time every month to check it before use.
Holding employee drug screenings can help, too. If an employee is under the influence, no matter the work environment, it impairs their performance and puts them and others at a risk for injury. It may be tedious to perform these screenings, but it can prevent serious injuries and liability on your part.
4. Implementation
Finally, make sure your employees’ handbook outlines proper work procedures, expectations, and policies that can prevent workplace injuries. Of course, this is at the discretion of you, the business owner, but holding annual meetings related to safety can help make sure everyone is up to par and performing their best.
Employees may get complacent when they become comfortable on the job, so it’s up to you to make sure no one is slacking. Being attentive to your employees’ performance prevents the whole team from falling behind, and thus, prevents common workplace injuries from happening.
Do you currently have any safety plans implemented at your business? We’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
