Ways to Ensure Safety and Security in the Workplace

The proper safety and health regulatory compliance should be maintained in every workplace. As a business owner, it's your core mandate to ensure the workplace safety of your employees. Working with a workers compensation lawyer can help develop a robust security and safety strategy for your business, helping you stay compliant and effectively prevent and manage workplace injury, damage, and theft. Here are a few ways to ensure workplace safety and security:

1. Talk to Your Insurer

The initial step towards creating a successful workplace safety program is to talk to your insurance provider – they can recommend effective methods to enable a healthy and safe workplace. A safe business environment will go a long way to ensuring that you have minimal or no claims filed against your company. For this reason, your insurer will assess your place of doing business to audit the premise and present you with a safety improvement strategy. You can rest assured that most insurance companies are up to date with the corresponding federal and state safety laws.

2. Review OSHA Recommendations

It's crucial that you take time to learn your legal obligations by checking out the website of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Remain compliant by adhering to the federal guidelines to avoid the consequence of having to pay hefty fines. You can start by internally training some employees to administer first aid through Red Cross, AED, and CPR courses. Be sure to review the Americans with Disabilities Act to ensure you remain compliant.

3. Prepare a Workplace Safety Manual

Once you've inspected the business premise and the safety committee approves your safety recommendations, you may now go ahead to prepare a workplace safety manual. Remember to share the draft manual with your insurance agent, attorney, and any other expert for feedback. For instance, your attorney will let you know if you included any safety suggestions that conflict with laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act.

4. Train All your Employees

Share your workplace safety manual with your employees once it's complete. Organize an open meeting after the safety manual release to discuss and gather employees' feedback. Go ahead and ask the employees to sign a consent form asserting that they clearly understand the manual contents. Integrate the safety precautions into your workplace culture by making it part of the new employee's onboarding process.

5. Implement and Promote a Security System

Schedule frequent refresher sessions to follow up on your staff's workplace safety and security compliance. Create a company culture that incentivizes employees to anonymously report safety and security incidents that they would otherwise hesitate to share publicly.

Endnote

The effort and time committed to promoting workplace security and safety will pay off in the long term. If the creation and implementation of safety procedures and policies seem daunting for your business, you can always seek advice from a professional risk management expert.