How to improve workplace safety,health and security
Running a business means constantly facing the unexpected situations. What every business-owner assumes is that those situations will occur in the business environment, but the truth is that the majority of threats lay in the real world and managing those threats can make or break our businesses. Those threats can be roughly divided into two groups: health and safety, and security. So, let us take a look at the legislation covering these two areas and some of the measures you can take to minimize the risk to your business.
Work Health and Safety Regulations
In essence, workplace health and safety in Australia are regulated by the Model WHS (Work Health and Safety) Act. The current version of this act has been published in March this year. Going through all the individual regulations would take too much time (the best way to do that is to consult your local WHS regulator), but here are some of the most important principles of this act:
- Employer must secure the safety of all employees.
- Employer must provide safe working environment.
- Employer must provide safety equipment.
- Employer must provide its employees necessary training regarding workplace safety (for example, fire drills).
- Employer must report all accidents to authorities.
- Employer must create strategies for resolving safety issues.
WHS Measures You Can Introduce to Your Business
And now here are some measures that can help you to abide to these rules and improve safety in your business:
Investigate accidents and maintain records –Unfortunately, some accidents cannot be prevented. You can, however, thoroughly investigate and keep records of them, so you can identify future threats and safety trends.
Inspect your employees –Providing your employees training is not enough. You have to carefully inspect is that training implemented properly, and are there some grey areas you can further address.
Talk to Your Employees –Regular, day-to-day contact with your employees is the best way to get a feedback on work conditions in your company and possibly uncover some of the potential threats they weren’t able to notice.
Have a plan for controlling workplace hazards –Make sure every employee is familiar with the plan, and knows all the prevention and contingency procedures. Have an emergency plan and evacuation diagram displayed on all prominent locations throughout the building.
Security Measures You Can Introduce to Your Business
Although security of the workers is largely covered by the Model WHS Act (e.g. regulations that guarantee safety at the workplace), securing your business’s wellbeing from the human-caused threats like burglaries, requires an entirely different set of measures. Let us take a look at some of them:
Examine the critical spots – And by that we mean places where employees are interacting with the clients, guarding their money or working alone or in small groups. Upgrade those weak spots with security screens, surveillance cameras, etc.
Keep the space around your company well-lit –This refers to the early and late hours. You can even consider scaling your work hours to avoid periods of day when your employees could feel threatened.
Surround your company with fence – Limit the access to parking lot and storage area only to company vehicles and suppliers. Otherwise, the area around your company’s building should be clear of all structures and items that could allow burglars place to hide, and allow visibility from the nearby street (that’s why you should probably use bars or wired fence).
Install alarm system – You can choose between monitored and unmonitored alarm systems, but it should be best to use them both as a backup feature.
If you consider these regulations and implement these measures, you should keep the risk of something going horribly wrong at the bare minimum. Your employees will then be able to focus on the things they should otherwise worry about – achieving results and enabling your to business grow.
