As an employer, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your staff are safe. You have a legal obligation to follow health and safety protocols and put them into practice. If an employee has an accident in the workplace due to your negligence, they are at total liberty to sue as they could find themselves in financial difficulty due to their injuries — in severe cases, they won’t be able to work again in their lifetime. There are plenty of pre-settlement loan companies that will support an employee financially while they are out of employment (check out this pre settlement funding website for more information).
It’s important to ensure that your workplace is as safe as possible. Here’s how you can do so.
A tidy space
A safe workplace must be tidy. If it’s full of clutter, objects can turn into hazards. So, as an employer, it’s your responsibility to ensure that the workplace is clear of mess. This means running cables properly and keeping them out of harm’s way so an employee doesn’t trip. It also means ensuring that any spillages are wiped up quickly to avoid slip and falls. If hazards can’t be cleaned quickly, a sign must be put in place to warn employees of the potential risk.
Equipment
A safe workplace must have the correct equipment. Equipment that is faulty could cause a serious injury to an employee. But how do you know if equipment is safe? Every item should be tested regularly to ensure it is in full working order. You should also replace old equipment fairly regularly, as outdated electrical equipment is more likely to malfunction. As soon as you have established that something is faulty, you must alert any employees and take it out of circulation. Your HR team will be able to undergo the correct protocols.
Training
It’s no good having great equipment if your employees don’t know how to use it properly. A lack of training can cause accidents to happen. Muscle strains can easily occur in roles where employees are required to do manual labor, especially if they have not been taught to lift properly. Injuries can also occur on construction sites when workers haven’t undergone the correct training. It’s your responsibility to ensure that training is mandatory and done professionally. If an employee gets an injury using equipment they haven’t been trained on, the employer will face the consequences.
Emotional support
Safety isn’t all about scuffs and scrapes. Employees must feel emotionally safe and supported in the workplace, too. This means ensuring that all employees respect each other and behave appropriately. As an employer, you must ensure that employees feel able to open up about any issues they have experienced and report incidents. Bullying, sexual assault or racial discrimination is not to be tolerated, and all members of staff must be aware of this. A safe workplace must make these rules clear and employees must know where to report any issues.
Leave a Reply