Health & Safety In The Workplace: The Basics

Whether you’re a business owner or an employee; implementing health and safety in the workplace is of paramount importance. At the end of the day, it’s all about keeping people safe, but so many businesses neglect it and don’t treat it seriously. In the worst cases, bad health and safety practices can lead to death and/or a massive legal case. In the best circumstances, life-changing accidents can be prevented. Yes, lives can actually be saved just because of implementing the right health and safety prevention measures. We must take it seriously. Here are a few things you need to know.

Prevention

Prevention is the most important thing to consider when it comes to health and safety. Business owners should be doing everything possible to ensure their premises are as safe as they can be. In some cases, you’ll find that a health and safety representative is employed to manage this task on a daily basis. They should be carrying out risk assessments around the building to check for any potential danger signs. If they find them, they can then be monitored, and measures can be taken to reduce the risk.

Of course, moving into a new premises should also come with a rigorous check of the entire building. No employees should be working in the new premises without a full health and safety check being done beforehand. This includes things like cables, equipment, and even air conditioning systems.

Also, signage should be installed in any location where dangerous activity is taking place. Safe equipment needs to be supplied, and in-depth training is also crucial when handling dangerous objects. When working with tools that are particularly lethal, it is important to ensure all the workers feel comfortable using them. If there is any doubt at all, they should not be taking part in any activity whatsoever.

Health and safety is all encompassing. Doing everything by the book is not only crucial for employee safety, but for the well-being of the business as well. There are many requirements set by law when it comes to health and safety. They are in place to make sure businesses do at least the bare minimum to ensure their workers’ safety. These must be adhered to, or the business could face serious trouble, including being shut down. If you are an employee, and you’re worried about dangerous activity, you must report it to senior management straight away.

Accidents

When an accident does occur, it should always be recorded in an accident book. This is also the case even if it wasn’t anyone’s fault. If a customer walks into your store and passes out, you must still record it as an incident.

If the accident isn’t severe, the representative needs to start carrying out investigative procedures. They need to find out exactly what happened and why it occurred. Once this has been established, they will be able to put measures in place to prevent the same thing occurring in the future. This is a requirement for them to adhere to. Even so, the person affected might feel aggrieved with the company and wish to take further action by talking to a personal injury lawyer. In this case, the company and the employee will potentially become locked in a legal battle. The employee will then suggest that the company didn’t do enough to protect them. Sometimes, this sort of thing will get settled out of court, but there are no guarantees. If you’re concerned about an injury that wasn’t your fault, it’s always worth seeking expert help to deal with the matter.

It’s important to accept that accidents will occur from time to time. Running a business is difficult, and the more employees there are in the business; the more likely incidents will take place. There are people working with all sorts of equipment in different sectors, and managing them all isn’t easy. That’s why it’s so imperative that health and safety representatives are identified, and the right processes are put in place. Just one severe incident could be enough to damage a company’s reputation for the rest of its existence. The recent rollercoaster crash at Alton Towers is an example of this. At the famous theme park, a severe accident caused devastating injuries as well as damaging its reputation.

In cases such as the Alton Towers incident, if an accident occurs that is particularly severe, call the medical teams right away. The most important thing in this situation is that the affected victim is treated as soon as possible. After this has taken place, the company needs to determine who and what was at fault. Although it might have been an accident, everything must be documented and noted to ensure that the issue never happens again. Just like in the case of a minor incident, all avenues must be explored to figure out why it happened in the first place. As horrendous as the situation is, it can be used as a learning experience to help prevent that sort of incident in the future.

Improvements

Whether you’re a worker or a business owner, you can make improvements to your company’s overall health and safety procedures. If you’re interested in getting more involved with the healthy and safety program, there are plenty of options to consider. One of the best ways to improve knowledge of health and safety is to incorporate regular training days for all the staff. Emergency first aid courses are incredibly popular, and the skills gained could save someone’s life one day. They only take half a day to complete in some cases, and they’re incredibly beneficial to the company in the long run.

Training can also simply mean educating employees on some of the basics to be aware of. If there are hazards around the building, and they’re going unnoticed, you can’t let it happen! Those employees might fail to understand the seriousness of these hazards. You can bring this sort of thing up in meetings and go through basic health and safety training to make sure this doesn’t happen.

We hope you’ve found this information useful!