For any company to be successful, there needs to be a happy and healthy workforce. In turn, happy employees are more productive—leading the way for a successful business. Making sure your employees feel safe while at work is a good step towards ensuring their job satisfaction, and there are a few ways to do that.
1. Adequate Training
Training is an important aspect of a new job. It helps ensure that the employee knows what they’re doing and why they’re doing it, allowing them to be more productive from day one.
If you work in an environment that’s pretty safe in general, then organizing fire drills, and first aid training is a good option. Of course, anyone working in or with the health industry needs their employees to complete HIPAA training, as well as for those that have access to protected health information. The good news is, nowadays you can find training that’s easy to understand, captures the attention, and can be worked through on any device.
On the other hand, if you run a business that has something to do with power tools, knives, or anything that has the potential to be harmful, you need to train your employees accordingly. Employees feel safe knowing that everyone around them knows how to use the tools they need for work properly, alongside having basic first aid skills, they’ll feel much safer while at work.
2. Communicate Your Safety Policy
Communication is important in any industry, perhaps even more so when it comes to safety within the workplace. The good news for employers is that almost every company these days has a written safety policy.
A good idea is to communicate this policy to employees, making them aware of exactly what steps they need to take for work to be as safe as possible. This is an interactive way in which you can remind your employees that you value them and that their safety is a priority. Most companies will have their workers sign off on an injury and incident book, and if that doesn’t serve the purpose, ERSA (Employee Report of Injury, Illness, and Incident) can be used in its place.
By making it clear to employees what they need to do in order to keep themselves safe, you’re limiting the risk of injury or accidents happening. Offering necessities of safety is something that should go hand in hand with talking about your policies. These can include protective clothing, necessary things like keys and locks, and anything else that could prevent an injury from happening.
3. Create A Safe Work Environment
This may sound like common sense, but it’s not all about equipment and training. In fact, creating a safe work environment can mean more than having working fire extinguishers, a business intercome system, or complying with the required infrastructure standards—although these are definitely major aspects of keeping your employees safe.
For instance, by implementing new measures such as visitor sign-in systems, you can keep your building safe and ensure you keep track of who enters and leaves the building. This system will ensure that no person in the building goes unaccounted and your employees will feel safe knowing that not just anyone can enter the property as they wish to.
Your work environment should be comfortable, and it’s the boss’s job to make sure this happens. Bullying in the workplace should never be tolerated—it’s incredibly harmful to morale, productivity, and has been linked to increased sickness rates. If any employee feels bullied or harassed they should let their line manager know immediately.
Implementing a healthy work culture can go a long way in ensuring your employees are happy, healthy, and safe. A big part of this is making yourself available to your staff member. A policy in place won’t do much good if the employees don’t feel like they can count on you to enforce it when they’re being harassed.
4. Data Protection
Data protection within the workplace is another important aspect of creating a safe work environment. Employees need to know their data is secure. Not having to worry about someone violating their privacy, or even worse, having access to personal information like their home address, will make them feel a lot safer.
Data protection, and if necessary – data protection training is highly recommended for businesses, no matter what industry they’re in. Not only does it help to protect employees from data breaches and cyber security risks, but it also helps keep their identities safe from scammers or any other source of harm.
In addition to this, the right data protection policies in place will ensure that no one tries to spy on private information, and it’s a way for employees to know you’re taking their safety seriously.
When you have happy employees who are being treated well by their employer, they will be produced which can lead to the success of the company. Providing training for new employees along with having written safety policies can help keep your employee’s safe while at work. Having a comfortable work environment is important too, and if the boss is approachable and friendly, this will make employees feel safe. When people are satisfied with their work environment, they will be motivated to perform at the highest level and have a positive outlook, which is incredibly valuable for the bottom line.
