How to Make Your Workplace Safer

Written by Guest Blogger, Betty White

Managing a facility or a business the right way should also involve taking into account workplace safety. All facility managers or business owners have the responsibility to create a safe work environment for many reasons. Firstly, the reputation of your company will be undermined if workplace injuries or hazards put your employees out of work. Not to mention possible litigations and compensations might strain your budget. Secondly, your business may suffer if you have to replace workers who quit or get injured at work. Finally, you should ensure a safe workplace environment for your guests, customers, and visitors to your facility or business. Hence, we will talk about how to make your workplace safer so that you can improve your workplace or facility.

Hire Competent People

To create a safe and efficient workplace, your staff members should not be only trained by also very focused, systematic, and committed to the role or task they are engaged in. So, be sure to execute the hiring process with utmost care. Hiring just anyone might lead to serious oversights or neglect on their part.

Another way to find out if the applicant is a good fit for the company might be in their CV. For instance, if you run a medical facility, you should look at their previous work experience with utmost care. The safety of your customers or patients depends on this. So, if the person has been switching between companies too often, this might be a telltale sign that their work ethic is not good. Of course, this doesn’t have to be conclusive evidence, but something you should look into with their previous employers.

The process of screening employees can be facilitated if you have the right facility manage on your side. Also, when looking for the right facility service providers, it is hard enough to search for the right providers and then have to manage them all too. That’s why thousands of businesses partner with System4 Facility Services Management to be their one point of contact for all facility service needs.

Prioritize Health and Hygiene

It is not just human error or neglect in the workplace that can lead to situations of reduced safety. To keep your facility safe, you should prioritize health and hygiene. Luckily, the Covid-19 pandemic has raised awareness about the importance of proper and meticulous workplace hygiene. Regular and expert cleaning should eliminate germs, bacteria, and viruses.

So, make sure you maintain workplace hygiene at the highest standard. For instance, you can enforce and encourage handwashing through signs posted in restrooms and breakrooms. Also, make sure all employees have access to hand sanitizers in all part so the workplace.

Furthermore, even if your facility is going through significant changes, such as a remodel, you should ensure that safety and hygiene are never compromised. Creating a safe work environment for our employees during such times is critical to prevent potential mishaps. Therefore, hire competent contractors or service providers for anything you do in your facility.

Prepare for Emergencies

You can make your workplace safer by being prepared for any unforeseen circumstances that comes your way. However, this includes more than supplying the facility with the right amount of fire extinguishers and first aid kits. Your employees also have to be ready to react in the right way in case of fire, flood, or chemical hazards. In that sense, effective emergency training should be part of your employment process.

Apart from this, you should also make sure that people can access the fire exits easily. Label everything clearly so that people can interpret the emergency signs even when they are under stress. In that sense, it is also helpful to practice emergency drills and protocols to prepare everyone to react in the right way.

Regular Maintenance and Checkups of Tools and Equipment

No amount of preparedness or safety precautions will be enough if the tools and equipment your employees handle are not checked regularly. Furthermore, regular maintenance and security checkups will also extend the lifecycle and functionality of your equipment. In addition, if the machines and tools you work with break down, you also won’t be able to run your business successfully. Not to mention that you might be putting the health and lives of your staff and customers in danger.

Essentially, broken equipment should go through regular and thorough checkups to ensure that the workplace is safe. Hence, a certified and experienced professional should examine the equipment before any malfunctions.

Maintain the Lighting, Ventilation, and Other Essential Systems All Year Round

Finally, it is imperative to keep the systems in your facility running smoothly. Ventilation can be problematic if your employees work with hazardous chemicals and fumes. Hence, it is necessary to ensure that the ventilation system works properly. In addition, you should make suer that the monitors controlling temperature and humidity in the workplace are well-regulated.

Here are a few maintenance tasks you can do 2-3 times a year:

• Check the exterior light bulbs
• Clean and check the HVAC filter
• Inspect the filters and batteries in the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
• Test and service the fire alarm and fire extinguishers
• Monthly cleaning of the inside and outside of windows and hardware
• Rodent and pest control
• Inspect the facility for signs of leaks or faulty drainage
• Change the water filters

In short, maintaining optimal working conditions is essential if you want to make your workplace safer. It’s important to do your upkeep tasks or hire a facility services management company that can help you with these tasks. System4 has years of experience in commercial building maintenance and repair and can help you keep your facility in tip-top shape, year around!

These have been the basic principles required to make our workplace safer for your employees, visitors, and ultimately your business.