Health and safety are vital parts of any business. It keeps employers, employees, and customers safe at all times. So no matter your industry, there should always be strict health and safety rules.
If you’re wondering whether your health and safety rules are good enough, here are a few that every business should adopt.
Appoint a health and safety officer
There should be someone within your business responsible for enforcing health and safety on the premises. The health and safety officer should make the rules clear to everyone in the company. Also, managers should observe whether the rules are followed. It will also be this person’s responsibility to note any incidents, so there is a complete record in case of any complaints by employees or customers.
Wear safety equipment
All workers must wear safety equipment where necessary. You should also provide adequate training on how this safety equipment should be used. This means the business is covered if an employee says he was injured because he didn’t wear safety equipment.
Similarly, you must provide training on how to handle other equipment. For example, all employees should know how to lift something heavy or when more than one person should move equipment.
Maintain equipment
Your employees’ tools to carry out their jobs should always be maintained. Your employees are only as good as the equipment they use, so it’s essential to service and update your equipment. If you suspect a fault with your equipment, infrared inspection services could help you to identify it.
Identifying the problem means you don’t have to risk injury to your workers, and production time won’t drop because the equipment isn’t working correctly.
Have first aid kids on site
Unfortunately, accidents do happen, especially in high-risk work environments. You should have a first aid box present in the workplace and a dedicated first aider who can administer it when needed. When accidents occur, they can be less detrimental if first aid is quickly applied.
This gives the worker time to reach the hospital and seek medical attention without worsening injury. The first aid responder should report the incident to the health and safety officer.
Display health and safety rules
Your health and safety policies should be displayed for everyone to see. Having them printed and displayed in the workplace can be an excellent reminder to workers of what they can and cannot do. In addition, many workers will likely forget health and safety rules when rules aren’t displayed.
This can lead to more injuries. Rather than having regular meetings to enforce these rules, print them and put them in places where they can’t be ignored.
Health and safety rules are there for protection, but when you own a business, you are responsible for ensuring these rules are followed. Not only will it keep people safe, but it will also mean you can’t be negligible if an accident occurs on the premises.
