Health and safety have never been more important than now. In a post-pandemic working environment, everything you do as a business, matters. If you’re not being seen to care about your workforce internally or externally, then chances are you’re going to take a hit to the reputation.
Employees themselves, need to know and feel they’re valued within their workplace. There’s nothing worse that a lack of respect or dedication from employers. It’s the reason that many employees will end up leaving as a result.
With health and safety an important part of running a business, here are some of the best tips for prioritizing it for your own company in 2023. It’s a new year and an opportunity to go above and beyond for your employees.
Improve the company’s operation team
Improving the company’s operation team is a great way of helping with health and safety in the workplace. The company can only operate as well as those who are responsible for its daily comings and goings.
An op’s team is responsible for a lot of building issues and some of the employee concerns that may be occurring in relation to the premises.
Ideally, you need an operations team that can span the entirety of the company and the building itself. For companies with less than 50 employees, one operations manager might be enough but for bigger businesses, you may want a team of operations assistants to help out.
Put accountability of staff members to look after their personal workspace
While your building operation team can do the majority of the health and safety management within the building, they can’t keep their eye on everything. There should be a degree of responsibility put on employees to look after their own areas.
It’s worth doing a quick check of the floors currently and what everyone’s personal work desks look like. Are they organized or messy? Could there be room for improvement when it comes to cleanliness and keeping spaces functional?
Leaving boxes out or having any water near electrical equipment, all pose risks for the employee and those around them. With that being said, it’s good to enforce a company policy when it comes to everyone’s individual workstations and keep them tidy at all times. Not only is it important for cleanliness but for appearances when guests and clients are visiting.
Increase cleaning schedules for improved hygiene
Cleaning schedules have had to change quite significantly for a lot of businesses thanks to the chaos of COVID-19. While some normality has come back, everyone is still a little conscious about the passing of germs and bacteria in the workplace and in general public spaces.
As a business, it’s good to be seen to improve the quality of the cleaning, along with an increased cleaning schedule for hygienic purposes.
While it might not be possible to have constant cleaning in place, doing everything possible to minimize the spread of bacteria can certainly help. For your workforce, keeping a clean and tidy environment can be incredibly helpful for workplace productivity.
For January 2022 in the US, 3.6 million employed people didn’t work due to illness or a medical-related issue. This is the second-highest January since the data was first collected in January 1976. Reducing the amount of sickness in the workplace can be helped by keeping a healthy working environment.
Offer more opportunities to talk about mental health
Mental health is a very important topic that can often be a tough one for employees to talk about. It’s something that any business should be willing to talk about openly with their employees.
By setting up mental health awareness meetings and providing the relevant help required for employees, it’s something that employees will greatly appreciate.
Even for those who don’t necessarily have a problem with their mental health, you never know what could come around the corner. Someone whose mental health has been fine up until now could experience a traumatic event that changes everything.
Mental health matters and it’s something you should be focused on providing for all of your workforce this year. With plenty of resources available online and through charitable companies, it’s worth reaching out to these organizations for partnership opportunities that will benefit your employees.
Provide support with time off when employees require it
Employees are humans at the end of the day and even the most productive and dedicated members of staff will have their bad days. Whether it’s something that’s impacting their mental health or their struggles at home, there are plenty of opportunities to help care for them as an employer.
One way of helping to improve the health and well-being of staff is to provide support with time off where possible. Compassionate leave and even mental health days are becoming more common for employees to utilize instead of them having to have their pay docked as a result of this situation they’re in.
Train staff to be more well-educated on health and safety
Training your staff to be more well-educated within the workplace is important because it can help to improve the talents of the business overall. While it’s important to provide them with education for the purpose of their role within the workplace, it’s also good to educate them on general topics too.
Health and safety are something we’re all taught to a degree as we grow up. We get taught of the dangers by our parents or guardians, including any adults we look up to for guidance. When it comes to the workplace though, employers should be willing to provide enough training to keep their staff safe.
From operating dangerous equipment to general health and safety rules that may sometimes be neglected or forgotten about by some staff. Every little effort to improve the employee’s knowledge would certainly help keep the work environment as safe as possible.
Deliver excellent onboarding for new staff
Onboarding new staff should be a seamless process and one that should reflect the very best in health and safety. When it comes to onboarding, some businesses can neglect to do this properly and as a result, they’ve got somewhat half-trained staff that have had to train themselves to learn the remainder needed for the role.
This can lead to problems within the staff member’s role and that can impact the wider network of the workforce too. Delivering a top-tier onboarding process for staff members is definitely something you’ll want to do in order to improve the health and safety within the workplace.
Consider the number of first-aiders available
How many first-aiders do you have in the building? Ideally, the more you have, the better. You should have a couple of first-aiders on each floor, depending on how big that floor might be.
The benefits of having first-aid and basic medical trained staff means they can help in the event that someone needs immediate help while waiting for professional medical services to arrive. From CPR certification to basic first-aid knowledge, it can all be useful in an event that an employee or guest to the building is in need of assistance.
Ask your employees what needs to change
Employees want to feel valued in the workplace and sometimes asking for their guidance can be a great way of showing your appreciation as an employer. For health and safety problems or potential issues, ask your employees.
Your employees are there day in and day out, so they’ll know if there’s anything in particular that needs addressing and hasn’t been done yet. Whether this is through an anonymous online form or within company meetings, any help from employees in regard to health and safety is useful to have.
After all, when you’ve got all eyes and ears on the property, it makes it a lot easier for your building team to manage too. Communication is important and it’s something that will certainly help improve the standards when it comes to health and safety protocols and practices in place.
Remove any broken or damaged equipment quickly
Broken or damaged equipment should be replaced quickly. There’s nothing worse than having broken or damaged equipment that could potentially cause danger to staff or any guests that come in and out of the building on a daily basis.
There are a lot of businesses that often operate heavy machinery or equipment that presents its own unique set of dangers. If that’s the case and it’s damaged or faulty equipment, fixing this should be a major priority for the workplace.
Again, make sure communication is being had between employees and the operations team to make sure all these fixes and replacements are being addressed quickly and efficiently.
Prioritizing health and safety in the business for 2023 is essential, especially with all of us being more conscious of our health and well-being. Take the tips above and implement them within the business for this year and beyond. It’ll make a big difference to the business and the happiness of your staff in general.
