Are You Managing Your Employees Safely…?
This is a question many employers fail to ask themselves…are you managing your employees safely? Health and safety is extremely important however many organisations fail to understand the importance of it, which can be very dangerous.
Health and safety is a key factor for all industries as it is of great importance to ensure every employee within the industry works in a safe and protected environment. Employers should have a duty and moral responsibility to keep employees health and safety as the highest priority. Failing to identify health and safety as a high priority can lead to adversity and in some cases…life threatening situations. That is why in today’s blog we’re going to be discussing 6 key factors you must use, to ensure you’re managing your employees safely.
1. Stay Committed To Health & Safety
It is important to be committed to your job in order to develop and grow within your role. However, health and safety is apart of any employer’s role so it is important to committing to health and safety as well. You should ensure to include workplace health and safety into all parts of your business plan and it should be conveyed to all employees, so in an event of an emergency all employees would have a health and safety procedure to follow in order to avoid them or anyone else getting hurt.
2. Identifying Hazards
It is important to have knowledge on what hazards are and what types of hazards there are in your working environment, before you learn how to control the hazards. There are various approaches you can take in order to identify these hazards, which includes;
- Reviewing records of accidents, illnesses, injuries & complaints
- Identifying trends in types of illnesses and/or injuries
- Carrying out surveys amongst employees
- Reviewing inspection reports
- Inspecting your workplace for health and safety issues
3. Controlling Hazards
By identifying hazards within your workplace can significantly impact an organisation and prevent accidents from occurring, as you’ll have the ability to control hazards. By controlling hazards you must be able to;
– Prioritising The Hazards Identified
This is achieved by questioning what hazards are most likely to cause serious injury or illness, which hazard can be rectified immediately & whether a plan needs to be actioned for the hazards.
– Make A Plan For Correcting The Hazards
It is important to create a plan in order to identify the best approach to correct hazards. It could also be an idea to find best practices from companies within your industry, which could also work for your company.
– Correcting Hazards
A workplace can comprise of various forms of hazards, which is why there are 3 main approaches to correct hazards within a workplace which are via;
- Engineering controls
- Administrative controls
- Implementing personal protective equipment
– Evaluating The Changes
It is vital to evaluate changes made to hazards and ensure they have been rectified. It is also a good idea to for re-surveys to be carried within the work environment & work practices to ensure changes made are working well.
4. Training Employees
As a manager or a senior member of staff it is important for employees to be trained on hazards they could be exposed to. Employers should also provide;
- General safety orientation for new & existing employees starting new jobs – this also includes company safety regulations & emergency procedures
- Specific training on hazards of all job roles & how to perform jobs safely
- Retraining employees when/if regulations changes, if one’s job changes, if an employee returns from long absence & ensuring all employees have a solid understanding of how to perform their job roles safely
5. Adopting A Culture Of Continuous Improvement
It is important for organisations to develop/maintain a culture of continuous improvement. With health and safety being an important element of all organisations it is key for a culture of safety to be transcribed amongst all employees. This can be accomplished via;
- Responding to the needs & concerns of workers
- Ensuring management goes beyond the regulations to ensure a safe work place
Encouraging workers to go the extra mile for a safer workplace- Measuring & recognising success via recognition programs
Ensuring and maintaining a culture of health and safety which is constantly being practiced by all members of staff can allow for a safer environment for everybody, allowing for a continually improvement system to be put into place.
6. Project Skills Solutions As Your Training Provider
Project Skills Solutions offers a wide range of courses on a nationwide scale. From health and safety courses, including some which are management focused – we offer the IOSH Leading Safely and IOSH Managing Safely courses. These IOSH courses are designed for management/senior roles, covering all health and safety procedures and how to manage staff. IOSH training are relevant for supervisors, managers and team leaders. By taking an IOSH course you’ll be gaining a widely recognised qualification that is also classified as solid proof of you being competent in health and safety.