National Safety Month: How to Improve Office Safety for Your Employees
Posted June 5th, 2020
The cost of workplace injuries can be shockingly high. Along with productivity losses, companies can be responsible for handling many of the workers’ expenses. For some businesses, that’s simply too much to shoulder.
Luckily, it is possible to improve office safety for your employees. If you want to know what you can do, here are some tips.
Conduct Thorough Safety Training
When it comes to reducing injuries, comprehensive training is incredibly effective. By instructing workers on good ergonomics, safety equipment use, and other critical considerations, you can ensure that they are well informed about how to act in various situations.
Additionally, safety training gives you an opportunity to set expectations and review critical procedures, including safety incident or injury reporting. As a result, you can guarantee that all employees are on the same page regarding processes, which also makes a difference.
Reward Good Behavior
If you want to help your employees build positive safety habits, consider rewarding those who follow safety policies or take action to improve workplace safety. This can be an ideal approach for reinforcing smart choices, increasing the odds that the worker will continue to be safety-minded and that others will become more engaged.
Conduct a Workplace Ergonomics Audit
For office workers, poor ergonomics can be a leading cause of injuries. By conducting a workplace ergonomics audit, you can make sure that potential risks are identified, and issues are corrected.
Partner with an ergonomics specialist, such as an occupational therapist, who can observe and gather information about how various tasks are handled. Then, review their recommendations and make correlating changes to increase safety in your office.
Embrace Cleanliness and Signage
When a workplace is messy, accidents are more likely. For example, tangled cords near desks and items left haphazardly in walkways could cause trips or falls. By taking some time to focus on cleanliness, issues such as those can be remedied.
Additionally, it’s wise to embrace signage. By posting copies of proper procedures or safety reminders, you ensure that employees have access to critical information right when they need it most. This promotes better practices, which, in turn, could lead to lower injury rates.
Encourage Breaks
Staying in one position for extended periods can be detrimental to an employee’s health. One of the easiest ways to ensure that workers don’t spend too long sitting or standing in one place is to encourage everyone to take their breaks away from their workstations. That way, they will move around a little, relieving certain kinds of muscular tension and reducing fatigue.
Talk About Safety
Regular meetings give you a platform to keep safety at the forefront of every employees’ mind. Additionally, you can introduce topics that are relevant to the season or a recent change in procedures, ensuring information is provided in a timely fashion.
Call Us Today to Learn More
Ultimately, all of the tips above can help you improve office safety. If you’d like to find out more, the staff at Bayside Solutions can help. Contact us today and see how our workplace safety expertise can benefit you.
