Saving money has never been more important; however, savings should not come at the expense of your employee’s safety. A large number of business owners have started cutting back on essential functions and protective measures like personal-protective equipment and desk barriers to save themselves money in attempts to mitigate against rising energy and living costs. Introducing protective measures should be one of your main priorities. Unless you want to deal with unhappy, unsatisfied employees and workplace tribunals you’ll begin implementing protections right away. This post will tell you how you can create a safe work environment.
To achieve a truly safe work environment employees need to start taking steps to protect each other; there is only so much you can personally do. Many entrepreneurs find using incentives to promote safe behavior works well for them. You can begin giving employees who adhere strictly to safety policies and regulations bonuses and gifts. An alternative to this is punishing individuals who do not adhere to the safety rules you have introduced. By encouraging employees to behave more safely, you will likewise encourage them to report employees who are not following the rules you have introduced. When everybody understands the importance of safety it is more likely that employees will tell on one another. Make sure that you reward employees who do inform on their colleagues, as long as there is a good reason for them to have done so.
Personal-protective equipment can keep staff safe and prevent them from catching and transmitting viral infections. The introduction of PPE has never been more necessary when you consider that the world has only just escaped from a pandemic and analysts predict more will come in the future. You don’t have to spend a fortune on PPE as it’s widely available and generally quite affordable. The best way to save money on it is to buy it in bulk; suppliers offer huge discounts to organizations that buy their stock in large quantities, once every few months.
While vaccinations are not a legal requirement in many parts of the world anymore, asking employees to get COVID and flu vaccines can be an effective way of preventing staff from getting sick. Not only do employees getting sick at work put their health in jeopardy but it also reduces the amount of time they work each month. Check if it is legal for you to mandate vaccines in your company in the country that you live in; in some places, it is illegal for companies to try and enforce vaccine mandates. Do your research before implementing such measures so you do not get in trouble.
Make sure that your office is thoroughly cleaned each week. Never let a week pass without having your office deep cleaned. You can hire a janitor or a cleaning company to do this for you. You should also employ somebody to walk around your office and clean up each day, removing dirt and rubbish left behind by employees. Be sure to encourage employees to clean up after themselves too. If certain staff members are identified as being responsible for littering or leaving waste around, make an example out of them; a clean office is a safe one.
One last thing to consider is introducing weatherproof measures. All around the world temperatures are rising. Just last year parts of the world had their hottest summers in recorded history, like the United Kingdom for example. Weatherproofing your workplace will help prevent employees from succumbing to heat exposure. It’ll also serve as a good way to get them into the office on hot days as they might not have air-conditioning or HVAC systems at home; heat exhaustion and fatigue can be life-threatening if untreated, so prevent it from occurring by investing in weatherproofing measures.
Your employee’s safety should be one of your main concerns. Unless you take steps to protect them at work they could end up getting injured and taking subsequent legal action against you. When they are at work it is you who is supposed to protect them. Thus, having a safe work environment is crucial.
