When you own a business, you’re responsible for everything that takes place at that location, be it good or bad. So, to ensure that there’s far more good things taking place there than bad things, it’s important that you know how to keep your property and the people inside of it safe.
Whether the type of work you’re doing is inherently dangerous or you assume that nothing scary could even take place in your workspace, there are certain safety measures you should have in place to ensure that everyone is and feel safe. To help you learn how you can do this, here are three tips for increased safety at your place of business.
Focus on Hazard Identification
Before you can start taking steps to make things safer, you first have to know what safety hazards you’re most likely to come up against.
According to SafetyAndHealthMagazine.com, not only should you be concerned with this that are glaringly obvious, but you should also try to uncover safety hazards that others might miss. For many businesses, this could include things like bad lighting, poor air quality, or a lack of understanding of ergonomics.
Once you know what the hazards are for your particular workplace, you can begin finding ways to address these issues. Just make sure that once you’ve identified something as hazardous, you’ve informed everyone within your organization of this hazard and your commitment to hold safety trainings that will teach them how to deal with it.
Have Plans in Place
Although prevention is the best way to have increased safety at your place of business, you should also have plans in place for if and when your preventative measures don’t work out the way you intended.
As a part of these plans, Sage Singleton, a contributor to Fit Small Business, recommends that you be sure to practice all of your safety or emergency plans with your employees. If you haven’t practiced your plans enough, they really won’t do you any good if there ever comes a time when you have to use them for real.
Cultivate a Culture of Safety
To really make sure that everyone in your organization is as safe as possible when as your place of business, you’ve got to find a way to make safety part of your company culture, not just something you’re pushing from the top.
To help you in doing this, Corey Berghoefer, a contributor to EHS Today, suggests that you create open lines of communication between yourself and your employees when issues of safety arise. By informing everyone that you want to know what hazards they see or recognize and what they’d like to see done about them, you can create a company culture where everyone is looking out for the safety of others at all times.
If you’ve recognized that there needs to be more safety of your place of business, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you make this happen.
Image Credits: Piotr Chrobot
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