5 Ways to Ensure Workplace Health and Safety for Your Employees

Now more than ever before, it is important to ensure the safety and health of your workforce in order to avoid business disruption, minimizing liabilities, and to keep your company on the right track. After all, the COVID-19 pandemic has already brought many uncertainties to the business world, forcing many companies to adapt quickly or fall behind the competition. Nowadays, there is a high risk of workers contracting the virus, but that doesn’t mean that the risk of personal injury and other hazards are not present as well.

Whether your employees are working remotely or in the office, you should do your best as the employer to elevate their safety and health. Because remember, healthy employees are productive and efficient, two qualities you need the most during these trying times. With that in mind, let’s go over the five ways you can ensure workplace health and safety in the new normal. 

Identify all potential health and safety hazards

First things first, you and other leaders in your company need to identify all existing and potential hazards in the workplace. This doesn’t just means noting down hazards pertaining to physical injury, it means listing everything that might jeopardize the quality of life for your employees. 

This can include physical hazards, yes, but also the air quality in your office or facility, the lighting quality, the comfort of their workstations, personal habits and behavior like posture and sitting, the amount of greenery in the space, and much more. No matter how minuscule or insignificant it may seem, be sure to note down everything that may impact the physical and mental health of your employees.

Once you have a comprehensive list of all potential hazards that may cause immediate and long-term harm, you can start prioritizing. You can’t expect to fix all problems at once, but you can create a problem-solving plan and tackle one challenge at a time to quickly raise the quality of life in your facility. 

Properly mark and label everything

The risk of personal injury will always be present no matter how much you try to minimize it, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t keep it as low as possible. Your goal should be to minimize liability and the risk of an employee taking legal action should they get hurt on the job, and one of the best ways to do that is to prevent injuries with signs.

Make sure to properly mark everything in your facility and office that people should be mindful of, such as stairs, low door frames and passageways, hazardous lanes and machinery, and the like. Put up written instructions and notices everywhere so that people know exactly how to stay safe. Complementing this solution with a clear safety policy will ensure people stay safe and your brand’s reputation stays intact.

Regular testing and medical support

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we do business, and nowadays you’re faced with the added risk of people getting sick and potentially infecting the rest of your staff. Needless to say, you have to make sure that your employees are healthy, so you need to organize regular testing and check for any signs of the virus in the workplace.

It’s also important to send your employees to get tested for COVID, and that a medical professional with the right ACLS certification is available to handle any emergencies should any of your employees experience severe cardio-pulmonary symptoms. To do this, you’ll need to choose the right medical institution to care for your employees or hire certified professionals to be on standby in your facility to respond to emergencies at a moment’s notice.

Create a comprehensive safety guide for employees

Of course, you cannot expect your employees to inherently know how to stay safe and healthy on the job, nor should you risk it by not having a clear and detailed safety guide. If you want to minimize liability and ensure their well-being, then make sure to put all-important health and safety information in a comprehensive policy that you will deliver to each member of your employee collective.

However, don’t just send it out and forget about it, instead, make sure that every employee has got the memo and that they understand all the procedures and rules. Take a personalized approach and check whether or not every employee is on board, and whether or not they understand their responsibilities. 

Emphasize employee well-being during the day

Quality of life improvements can go a long way in creating and retaining a healthy, satisfied workforce, and now it’s more important than ever before to invest in the well-being of your employees. There are many ways you can achieve this, of which emphasizing physical activity and regular breaks is a must, along with inspiring healthy eating, and relaxation in the break room. Have a dedicated team of HR professionals monitor employee health and happiness in the workplace, and guide them towards a better work-life balance.

Wrapping up

The pandemic has forced many companies to close their doors, many of which are now closed because they didn’t implement the right health and safety rules. Be sure to use these solutions to minimize risk and ensure the well-being of your employee collective to keep your company going forward.