If you own or operate a company, it’s up to you to maintain a safe and welcoming workplace environment for all employees. Depending on your industry, this may require a lot of work and upkeep. Not to mention, the U.S. federal government mandates all companies to follow safety regulations set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA.)
Hire Reliable Maintenance and Cleaning Staff
The first precondition of maintaining a healthy and welcoming workplace environment is keeping it clean. A clean workplace will elevate the mood of your employees and also increase their productivity.
If you run a business with a sizable work facility, you need to hire a reliable maintenance and cleaning staff to ensure a safe and hygienic work environment. Depending on your company’s size, you may want to consider hiring in-house staff or an outside cleaning agency. For smaller companies, having designated cleaning jobs for general employees may suffice.
Frequently Review Legal Guidelines and Recommendations
Workplace health and safety isn’t something you can take half-heartedly; through OSHA, the United States Department of Labor enforces workplace safety laws and procedures. The responsibility of following OSHA standards falls on the employer—you are liable for any derivations from OSHA’s requirements. A business must take responsibility for proper training, proper maintenance of equipment and machinery, biohazard protection, and more.
To ensure you have the proper workplace safety protocols in place, you should frequently review legal guidelines and recommendations. Consider involving management and employees in the review process, so everyone has a clear idea about your expectations. The United States equipment and machinery, biohazard protection, and more.’s official website offers extensive resources for employers who need guidance in this area.
Provide Consistent Safety Training
If your business operations involve heavy machinery and equipment, then proper safety training is a must. Any accident resulting from heavy machinery and equipment handling can be life-threatening, so workplace safety training isn’t something to be taken lightly.
Hire top-notch trainers or consultants to train your employees in machinery and equipment if you don’t have the internal staff to do the job. Providing consistent safety training by arranging refresher training workshops can also benefit your employees.
Incentivize Compliance with Safety Protocols
Incentivizing compliance with safety protocols by rewarding employees who follow them is an excellent idea; this will keep the whole company engaged in improving workplace safety. Instead of discussing safety once a year or exclusively when you hire new workers, make this an ongoing effort with some form of prizes for enthusiastic participation.
You can also remind employees of safety protocols by providing visual messages via stickers and posters around the facility. OSHA publishes posters detailing basic workplace safety tips that you can hang around the office, cafeterias, and recreational areas.
Conduct Your Own Safety Audits
While you can count on your insurance company and government bodies to conduct safety audits of your workplace, you should also conduct your own. A good way to do this is by establishing a safety committee that reviews the workplace environment on a monthly basis.
You should pick members both from senior management and workers to make it both unbiased and inclusive. The feedback you’ll get from the meetings will help you identify areas of improvement in your business’s workplace environment.
When Accidents Happen
No matter what you do, it’s impossible to eliminate all risks for employee injuries at work. For that reason, almost every state in the U.S. requires businesses to have workers’ compensation insurance. You want to purchase the right workers’ compensation insurance plan for your unique workplace. Finding the perfect policy will take time and research, but it’ll be worth it to ensure your employees receive the best care and fair compensation should an accident occur.
Also, having proper workers’ compensation insurance will protect you as an employer. With a policy in place, employees have to work through the workers’ comp settlement process before taking a dispute to trial if they feel their compensation package is not enough.
An Ideal Workplace
Creating the perfect workplace environment for your employees is a tough job, but doing so allows you to maximize workplace productivity and employee satisfaction. When it comes to keeping the people who work for you safe, happy, and healthy, it’s best to take preventative action rather than deal with the consequences of a dangerous workspace.
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