Are you looking for the best ways to create a safe environment for your employees in the workplace?
Staying safe in the workplace has never been so critical, due to the recent parameters of COVID-19. In this article, we will take you through the 9 ways to ensure a comfortable and safe workplace for everyone.
Safety is paramount for employees who are returning to the workplace after a period of time away. Make sure that everyone is knowledgable and on board for the new procedures of working you will need to have in place.
Read on to find out more.
1. Train Your Employees on New Changes
With COVID-19 changing the way in which companies and businesses are operating, it is essential that your employees are brought up to speed with any new changes. You will need to carve out a portion of time to train up your staff on the different ways that business or tasks will be done and make sure everyone knows the correct procedures.
2. Update Your Manuals
When considering your old policies, a lot of them will no longer be valid and will need updating. Make sure that updating your manuals is a priority before your employees return to work fulltime. It means that if they have a query or question concerning the way in which they need to operate, they can consult the manual instead of using guesswork.
It helps them to feel confident they have a port of call if they have any situations they are unclear or unsure about and don’t get overwhelmed.
3. Make Clear Any Hazards or Health and Safety Risks
Depending on the type of work environment or workplace you are operating, it might include a lot of hazards or risks that your employees need to be made aware of.
Safety data sheets are a great way to catalog all of the risks and hazards employees may encounter when at work and they can access all the information in one place.
4. Reward Employees for Demonstrating Safe Behavior
Implement a system or positive rewards for employees that are consistent and comply with all the health and safety requirements of your workplace. It doesn’t have to be an extravagant or massive incentive, but just something to get people to think about taking extra precautions and preventive measures.
5. Keep Your Areas Clean and Disinfected
Deep cleaning and disinfecting of all surfaces that people use and touch will need to become second nature in the workplace. This is especially key if you have other members of the public come into your workspace or other contractors that are not strictly part of the company.
Any surfaces or handled items will need to be disinfected and wiped to prevent any contamination or spread of bacteria.
6. Ensure Good Person Hygiene of Staff Members
Your employees will need to maintain a vigorous routine of regular handwashing and washing of outfits and work clothes when coming into the workspace. If they touch any items that are then passed on to or touched by other people, they will need to wash their hands or use anti-bacteria gel or spray.
Make sure you have stations of anti-bacteria gel or spray available for your employees or any guests at entry and exit points.
Staff should also have readily available spaces to wash their hands that have plenty of liquid soap for them to use. Bars of soap are not permissible as they can gather bacteria on the surface of the soap bar.
7. Keep a Dialogue Between You and The Staff
Just because you think you have foreseen all the eventualities of what the risks of your workplace are, doesn’t mean that new ones won’t arise. Keep an open dialogue between you and your staff and ask them how the safety measures are working for them.
If there is something that isn’t particularly working, they will be able to feedback to you and offer alternate suggestions. Make sure that you aren’t too rigid in your approach when there could be an easier and better solution for your team overall.
8. Review and Test Your Equipment
If you are working in an environment that involved specialist equipment or machinery, it’s important to test out and review your equipment periodically. This is to ensure that all of your equipment is working as it should be and to check for all faults or things not working as efficiently.
This is to protect your workers from any equipment that is old or faulty and to ensure that accidents don’t happen as a result of this.
9. Make Sure Workers Take Regular Breaks
One key reason that accidents happen at work is people working too much and not taking regular breaks. Make sure that employees are utilizing and using their breaks efficiently and getting plenty of rest in between their shifts.
Employees should feel like you have their wellbeing and health as a priority in the workplace. If you have exhausted and over-tired workers this is a dangerous work environment to be facilitating. Make it known that everyone should be taking the designated rest time they need and should not be working through any lunch breaks.
How to Organize a Safe Workplace: Where Can I Find Out More?
We hope this article on the 9 ways to make a safe workplace for your employees has given you plenty of tips!
Having a safe and comfortable work environment is so crucial for employees to feel secure in returning to work. They want to feel like their concerns and worries have been taken into consideration and they have a safe environment to work.
This is only done by covering a variety of different sectors, to ensure a fully safe workplace for everyone.
If you enjoyed this article, why not check out our previous blog posts?
