In running a business or an organization, the health and safety of the staff are paramount, as is required by the law. Regardless of whether a workplace is a high-risk or low-risk environment, hidden hazards are always present. Therefore, organizations should put up health and safety programs in the workplace to prevent and manage work-related injuries. The list below provides valuable insight on how to set up and effectively run a health and safety program in the workplace of any organization.
- Create a Healthy and Safety Plan
It is essential that you first understand your business’s underlying risks and potential hazards. Undertake a risk evaluation to assess your workplace’s current position and the areas to improve on. After identifying the potential hazards in the workplace, establish the different employees that these hazards affect. You can now develop a health and safety plan from the findings, clearly indicating what each member of the organization needs to do to remain healthy and safe at work.
- Regularly Undertake Training on Health and Safety
As the employer, ensure that everyone in your organization undergoes the training. The training should apply to the employees and directors. You could use the interactive approach that is computer-founded, use the group training method or simply train the staff on the job. For influential training, ensure that an autonomous health and safety professional takes the staff through the training. Additionally, provide them with written health and safety procedures to regularly be consulting, in case they are faced with any uncertainty of a task, or they have forgotten the training.
- Maintain Health and Safety Records
Maintain records of the health and safety activities in your organization. These activities could be previous inspections, first aid treatments, previous safety-related incidents and their investigations, and training. You could employ SHE health and safety software to maintain these records to help key out trends of insecure workplace conditions or routines. With such a degree of clarity, then a high baseline of health and safety will be maintained.
- Enforce Practices that Support Mental Health
Different studies have indicated a rising number of stress-related absenteeism in many organizations across the globe. Stress and mental health is an issue that employers cannot afford to ignore. Reasons for increased stress-related problems include heavy workloads, disputes with management or fellow staff, and long hours of operation.
To reduce mental health problems in the workplace, employers should allocate adequate breaks and leave periods to the employees. Additionally, come up with a dispute resolution program and a program where employees can talk about their mental health.
- Maintain Open Channels of Communication
Make sure your workers can comfortably speak about health and safety concerns they may be having. Meet with them regularly and encourage them to contribute any thinking and opinions to improve the safe condition at work. These channels could be a suggestion box, emails, letters, or simply come to your office.
Healthy people are more productive and work better. As an employer, therefore, make the well-being of your employees a top concern. You could employ the SHE health and safety software to your organization’s health and safety needs. In return, you empower a more productive workforce.
