Whether your business lies in the agricultural or retail sector, understanding the need for proper safety, as both a means of continuing the successful flow of Pounds and Euros into your establishment, and as a means of preventing costly worker’s compensation claims, is imperative. The steps necessary to outline proper safety measures will be covered here, in as general terms as possible, to facilitate application concerning different business types.
Also of note is the importance in identifying individual employee risks and hazards, and providing the information and training necessary to keep those employees productive, safe, and reduce the risk of medical negligence claims. All employees, regardless of status, must be offered proper training procedures.
Training cannot begin without proper assessment, however, and this assessment differs from business to business, starting with a statistical analysis of the relevant field. The analysis of statistically relevant accident data for a solicitor’s office would hardly be pertinent on a factory floor, so be as specific as possible.
Statistics should then be followed by a survey of potential accident sites or practices. Waxed floors that are often mopped or buffed, the necessity of heavy lifting, maneuvering through an obstructed pathway, and operation of any machinery, are common examples of potential hazards in a workplace. Create a list of these problem areas and collate them with your statistical analysis to determine which areas require the most attention.
Areas of concern should then be marked, with proper identification approved by the Occupational Health and Safety regulation, as any other signs may either not function as intended, or be ineffective at indemnifying against claims. In many cases business owners are also legally bound to provide these signs in areas of potential risk.
At this point risks should be clearly understood and marked, and a plan of action to prevent accidents should be outlined in a piecewise manner. Proper training protocols should be logical and simple to follow, and any problematic step should be fully explained during training, or broken down further. This planning phase is crucial to providing the backbone of safety for your business.
Within this planning and preparation phase, it behoves an owner to identify further potential risks for specific employee demographics. This allows for individual training addendums before finalizing the training plan. The elderly have increased statistical incidences of back injuries, while the young are more prone to injury, especially eye and hand injury. Heavy lifting procedure and proper eye care should then be amended to include emphasis for those who have higher rates of injury, if nothing else than to inform them of such.
Before moving on, it is important to note that taking a neutral approach to training is hazardous for both the owner and employees, and should be avoided during safety training. Data does not discriminate, and properly addressing the procedure for an elderly woman that has to bear heavy loads at any time during her employment, for instance, benefits everyone involved.
Once all the possible situations are accounted for, and the step-by-step plan of action to prevent them are created, training can begin. All employees must be trained on any potential hazard available to them on the job. Minimal exposure to a hazard is no excuse for forgoing training, and, in a similar vein, employees must be informed that tasks for which they are not trained for should not attempted.