In well-managed businesses, strong leadership makes safety a fundamental priority in its policies, operations, and employee engagement. The paramount importance of safety is applicable in every realm of the business world, and occupational safety directives are important in virtually all types of working conditions. Whether a workforce spends their days in an office or a manufacturing plant, their company’s leadership needs to take meaningful steps to create a safe working environment. Here are some crucial things that you can do to take care of your team members  

1. Equip Employees to Perform Tasks Safely

Equipment and tools that employees use in the performance of their regular job duties may require regular inspection and maintenance to ensure that it is in safe and operable condition. Monitoring and maintenance procedures for equipment can be easily organized with safety inspection checklists.

It is a good practice to periodically inventory equipment and assess outstanding needs that could make working conditions safer. If employees do not have the right tools for various tasks they are responsible for completing, they may be likely to improvise and try to do something unsafely. Even in administrative settings, not having basic supplies on hand could be problematic. Office managers should inventory supplies and equipment to make sure that they have general items that people need to carry out tasks correctly. Basics should include a sturdy multi position ladder and a rolling cart or dolly that can bear considerable weight.

2. Provide Personal Protective Equipment When Necessary

Give personnel access to Personal Protective Equipment that can substantially reduce their risk of injury while carrying out everyday job tasks. Using PPE such as gloves, masks, and goggles should be mandatory in certain situations. Training initiatives should include directives on situations that require the use of PPE, and it is generally advisable to disseminate official PPE policies in employee handbooks or standalone policies accompanied by a signed form indicating that employees acknowledge and understand the company’s expectations.  

3. Conduct an Audit

An objective assessment of your company’s policies and employees’ adherence to applicable policies can impart foundational insight to overhaul or enhance the safety of your team’s working conditions. You can perform some useful self-assessments to pinpoint deficiencies and develop corrective measures. Alternatively, you can hire a third-party company that specializes in workplace safety to perform a safety audit. A professional evaluation can also provide you with guidance on how to strengthen protocols and improve compliance with occupational standards.  

4. Hold Ongoing Safety Meetings

Ongoing safety meetings are an emphatic demonstration to staff about the underlying importance of workers’ health and safety. Simply by taking time out of a workday to discuss workplace conditions and risks, you are showing your staff that a company’s leadership regards safety as a top priority that deserves sufficient time and resources.

Regularly recurring meetings are an excellent opportunity to review your company’s safety policies. Taking the time to go over policies one after another and repetitively engrains them into your personnel’s memories. Putting policies in an employee handbook puts everything on a page, but safety meetings are a mechanism to ensure that everyone is really on the same page about safety.

Employers must continually emphasize the importance of safety to employees. Job descriptions, individual segments of a workflow, and organizational structure all need to reflect comprehensive attention to safety.

Demonstrations about the role of safety in a company’s values in addition to individual workers’ job duties function to build a culture of safety. The collective values that a leadership envisions for its operations will inform employees’ values. Employees’ efforts to apply these values in their individual job roles reinforces and sustains them as an integral part of what defines a company.