As an ongoing part of keeping your employees and your business safe, it’s best to regularly evaluate your workplace locations. You want to be checking for any potential safety hazards so you can remedy the situation before a severe incident does occur. The are some commonly reported hazards that are seen time and time again in which you should pay particular attention to.
One of the most common safety hazards that employers need to take care of is the height at which their employees are working. There should be safety railings, swing gates, anchor points, and equipment to protect against falling. Regardless of whether the work that is performed on the higher level happens daily or infrequently, the necessary safety measures need to be applied. In addition, a fall safety procedure needs to be enacted by the company to educate employees on the use of the items available and measures that will be taken if they don’t follow proper safety protocol.
As your business grows, you may find that you’re running out of space. This can lead to leaving boxes or other common items in aisles and blocking emergency exits. In the event that a fire would occur, you need to have clear hallways and fire exits so that your employees and clients can safely exit the building. Keeping these areas clean is simply a general household cleaning task that needs to be monitored on a daily basis instead of ignored.
Another common workplace hazard that is consistently overlooked by business management firms is the improper use of electrical outlets andĀ extension cords. Simple things, such as plugging multiple extension cords into one another, can provide a large safety risk for the employees that work within that vicinity. Leaving extension cords on the open floor, such as across areas that receive adequate foot traffic, can be a tripping risk. These little problems can turn into major lawsuits or worker’s compensation claims against your business. Doing a regular evaluation of your electrical outlets and extension cords can help to ensure there are no unnecessary safety risks.
Using equipment is a necessary part of almost every work environment. Whether the equipment is as small as a computer or as big as a bulldozer, you need to ensure all your employees get properly trained on the use of the equipment you have. Forklift training, aerial manlift training, and overhead lift training are all important programs to be administered to new employees and employees who have been promoted.
Depending on the industry in which you work, you may employ theĀ lockout-tagout system. This helps to secure the decommissioned use of machinery until another authorized user arrives or until service maintenance is complete. This is a great system when all the functioning pieces are operating smoothly. Unfortunately, in many businesses, there is a high lack of following protocols. A business that wants to protect itself should do routine lockout-tagout checks to ensure employees are following protocol.
Workplace safety hazards are a big concern for business owners. Not only do you want to keep your employees and clients safe, but you want to keep your business from financial ruin due to hazardous instances that could’ve been easily prevented. Take some time and analyze where your business is at with these common workplace safety hazards and come up with a plan to remedy the issues.
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