business

Is Your Workplace Safe? Top Tips for Business Owners

Workplace safety in Kenya
Image Courtesy/ Freepik Designers

If workplace safety isn’t at the top of your priority as a business owner, then you most definitely need to re-asses. Putting safety practices into place should come from a place of caring, but it will also prevent you from being faced with any nasty penalties or fines if anything goes wrong.

Failing to maintain high safety standards could be dangerous for yourself, your employees, your business and your bank balance. Here are a few sure-fire tips to make sure you’re making the workplace safe for your employees.

Be smart – hire for the long run

It’s always tempting to make a quick hire when your company is busy and in need of the help, but it’s important to consider the long term implications this could have on your business. Letting just about anybody through your door could be extremely detrimental, as they may not share the same long term goal that will make your business a success.

Be sure to put a rigorous hiring process in place so that you achieve quality rather than a “quick hire”, be sure that you have a good understanding of the person’s work ethic and long term goals.

The hiring process should also touch upon health and safety and some form of psychometric testing – this will give you the assurance that you are hiring somebody who is of sound body and mind dependent on the industry you are working within. You need to be sure that the person being welcomed into your team is going to be the right fit, who will abide by safe work practices.

Practice what you preach

Safe work practices are essentially the “dos” and “don’t” of a business, these must be well documented and clearly visible/ easy to digest for your employees. If you have procedures in place for your employees to follow, then you are sure to have a safer work environment.

Also, if you fully document any safety procedure, incident and conduct risk assessments in the work place, then you will be completely covering yourself and your business if anything should happen i.e. an accident in the workplace – failing to do so could be detrimental for your business.

It’s one thing putting safe work practices into place, but this would be nothing without delivering the correct training to your staff. Be sure to send your staff/ conduct in house health and safety training, have routine drills, refresher courses and be sure to deliver constructive criticism on your employees’ safe work practices.

Training and development is important in the workplace as it highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the team and allows the necessary adjustments to be made.

Create a safe work space

Creating a safe work environment is equally as important as training your staff on how to work safely. You have to practice what you preach as a business owner, so whether than is covering up exposed wires in an office, or fixing loose fittings, then be sure that everything is taken care of.

If everything is to standard, then nothing other than your employees can be the root cause of anything going wrong.

Indoor air quality is an extremely important factor that you must account for in any workplace. Studies have shown that having poor indoor air quality can be more detrimental to employees than poor outdoor air quality – so it’s really important to make sure that your office is well equipped with the right ventilation systems.

There are simple steps that you must take to ensure the safety and protection of your employees. Covering every possible avenue that could result in injury, health problems or damage, will ensure a more successful and safe work environment, and choosing to ignore these factors could make you liable to pay the price.

About Author

Alice Porter is an avid writer who is passionate about sharing her knowledge with business owners and like-minded professionals.



Add your thoughts about this story

comments


About Kuza Biashara

About Kuza Biashara

Starting a business is a leap of faith even in the best of circumstances. We at Kuza Biashara are focussed to encourage these daring small business owners who have the potential to innovate and change the world by contributing to the nation’s economy and livelihood.