The past couple of years have had unprecedented effects on society and the workplace as a whole. As we come out of the pandemic, many companies have learned the importance of workplace safety and workplace safety programs. Most of us may be back in the office, yet there are still some who remain working remotely as companies have adjusted to this new normal.
If you are serious about the safety of your employees and your company, it may be worth exploring and building a safety program for your business to ensure everyone’s safety. Keep reading below for tips!
• Make a commitment to safety. If you don’t commit to creating a safety plan, it will be hard for any significant progress to be made in regards to safety at your company. Make safety goals, based on your industry, and commit to a plan.
• Check out the OSHA requirements. OSHA, or occupational safety and health administration, is the federal agency that creates, enforces and implements crucial safety standards in the nation’s work places. Review some of the safety requirements and create an assessment about where your business could improve itself.
• Conduct risk assessments and identify safety hazards and risks. Again, this will be largely dependent on the industry your business is in. Risk factors are different in construction than they are in manufacturing for example. Talk with your employees and encourage an open dialogue between them to address what safety hazards may be present.
• Begin to develop processes and programs to address hazards. Hazard communication programs, fire safety plans, electrical safety plans, PPE and emergency action plans all fall under the umbrella of what safety programs your company needs but there are many others, so do your research!
• Train and educate your staff. Train everyone about safety programs, no matter their position so that if something happens, everyone can be on the same page. Regularly hold trainings and offer educational opportunities for your employees on safety topics and communicate with them regularly to ensure they understand safety expectations.
• Investigate and track all incidents and accidents. Regardless of the severity of the safety hazard, a thorough investigation should be done when situation arise so that they may be prevented in the future. Determine the cause of the accident and make changes to previously developed documents and information as needed to keep them up to date.
• Review your program. This should be done annually at the very least, but periodically check through your safety program information and documents to ensure it is accurate, up to date, and easily accessed and understood in the event of an emergency.
• Implement your safety program. Once you’ve decided on what will work or what won’t work for your safety program, train employees and enforce safety measures so that your business can stay safe and secure.
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