A Guide for Better Health and Safety in the Workplace
As an employer, it’s your responsibility to provide adequate health and safety within your business. Employees need to be provided with a safe working environment, with workplace safety tailored very specifically for individual roles and the manner of your business.
Proper health and safety can be an intimidating prospect for any new business owner or manager, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming - as long as the legal measures are implemented and safety encouraged at all times, you can ensure that your workplace remains as compliant as can be.
Here is a guide to help you improve the health and safety in your workplace.
Have a Clear Policy
Having an official booklet or guide available at all times is a good start for health and safety. This means that every new employee or relevant individual can be provided with a copy in order to read and understand it. Health and safety isn’t just about having a policy booklet in place - it’s also about taking the measures to have every staff member read it.
It also provides an official guideline for how health and safety matters should be handled. This is very important for coherence and communication within the workplace, and especially in the event of an accident or injury. The policy should outline what to do in these circumstances.
Provide All Necessary Training
Ongoing training is essential for good health and safety. Refresher courses are also encouraged, and new training should be mandatory for any new routines which are implemented, such as a change in how an employee does their job or a change of location.
It’s imperative to understand the training needs for your specific area of work. When working at heights, such as on rooftops or using scaffolding, employees will need the relevant Working at Heights course. If handling machinery, employees will need to be trained for the safe operation of such. If working with food, employees will need to understand the safe handling of food within the kitchen.
You should also support and encourage any employee who mentions that they feel as though they need further training, or might want it.
Appoint a Health and Safety Leader
Health and safety is better managed when you have a dedicated person to manage it. This means no areas will fall to neglect, and employees will always know who they can speak to regarding any health and safety concerns, who they will receive training from and who is in charge of this particular area.
This can be difficult within small companies, however, if you have limited staff and no clear departments. In this case, always have employees understand who they should speak to with a health and safety emergency, and how to contact them.
Ensure That There is Always a First Aider on Site
Having an individual trained in first aid is essential for workplace safety. You should also have designated first aid boxes at regular points around the workplace, and ensure that employees know where these boxes are.
If you don’t already have a first aider, it’s a good idea to ask who would be interested in learning first aid, and who would like to be the designated first aider. The best scenario is choosing somebody who is within the workplace on a daily basis, compared to a manager who is out of the workplace certain days of the week.
