How to Make Sure your Employees are Safe
Having a safe work environment starts at the top. It’s management’s job to put safety procedures and practices into place and make sure they are followed. Reinforcement of the safety policies will make sure they are observed daily and become automatic to the workforce. There are guidelines published by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that are specific to certain industries but are also all-encompassing. Here are few tips on how to make sure your employees are safe and go home unscathed every day.
Give Everyone the Proper Training
If you are in a manufacturing space, it’s important to make sure your employees have the necessary training. They need training not only in their specific job function, but also in how to spot hazards. For example, if you employ forklift operators, it’s your job to train them on the equipment. Part of that training needs to include looking for safety hazards and best practices so they operate responsibly. OSHA records and compiles all the workplace injuries for a given year, and a lot of them could have been avoided with more training.
Create a Safe Culture
Stress the importance of working safely every day, with every task. The more safety is stressed and rewarded, the more your employees will catch on and put things into practice. Create a safety committee to do random spot checks and record any unsafe practices they see—then, correct them.
Keep the Workplace Clean
Keeping a clean workplace will reduce the chance of accidents. Safety hazards hide in plain sight when things are messy and dirty. Make sure boxes are stacked neatly, materials are stored properly, and everything is put away. It’s logical that some tools will have regular use, but they should be put away at a shift’s end. Keep solvents and cleaners available so that, for the last 15 minutes of every shift, workers can tidy up their work station.
Use Signage
Signs and labels are a quick, cheap, and effective way to stress the importance of safety. You can put various safety slogans and reminders throughout the workplace. A friendly picture with a catchy slogan is a good reminder to work safe. If they are seen as cheesy or hokey, that’s actually a good thing—that means the signs are memorable and have the intended effect.
