Many businesses have come undone due to health & safety concerns. You don’t need me to explain what health & safety is; the clue is in the name! All businesses have certain responsibilities relating to the safety of their premises and the health of others. Problems arise when you’re negligent, leading to some costly consequences.
To put things into perspective, your business can be making a profit and doing really well, but if you breach the health & safety laws, everything can be shut down. The people in charge of following and regulating these rules can order you to permanently or temporarily close your company. So, all of your hard work and success will be for nothing. In addition, it’s always best to review your employer health insurance policies to ensure that they are current and offering your employees the best coverage for the price.
That’s an extreme case scenario, but it’s frighteningly common for businesses to suffer huge fines from health & safety authorities. Avoiding all of these problems is easy; you just need some basic common sense! Follow the health & safety guidance to protect your business and everyone in it. On that note, here are a few practices you must implement:
Wet Floor Signs
Cleanliness is a key part of health & safety, particularly during COVID-19. Thus, you need to clean regularly, which means your floors will be a lot wetter than usual. Whenever you clean your business premises, you need to put down some signs, telling people the floor is wet. Effectively, this is a safety measure that protects your employees, customers, and your business. If someone falls on a wet floor, and you have no signs, you will be in trouble. Legal firms like Adviceline Injury Lawyers will explain that you are liable for any accidents happening on your premises. As such, somebody can sue your company for compensation, potentially earning a massive amount of cash.
With the wet floor sign, you protect your business from severe legal damages. You can indicate that it was the fault of the victim because they didn’t adhere to the signage. All it takes is one slip & fall incident to bankrupt a small business.
Warning Signs Near Power Outlets
You need to place warning signs near any power outlets in your business. Again, this will cover your tracks if there are any accidents in the workplace. Clearly, electricity is a big hazard in any place of work. All it takes is one act of carelessness to cause a serious incident. The chances of this happening are decreased when you have warning signs alerting people to the potential dangers.
Following on from this, you need signs around other dangerous areas in your workplace. This can vary from setting to setting; it depends on where you work. Signage is a key aspect of health & safety because it shows you have taken steps to protect people. If you don’t have any warning signs, it’s a massive show of negligence, and you will fail any safety inspections.
Registered First Aid Officers
Your company will need at least one person to be registered in delivering First Aid. Again, this is an essential part of any health & safety policy and one that can’t be avoided. The exact number of First Aid officers you need will vary based on business size. In short, the more employees you have in the workplace, the more officers you will need.
The reasoning behind this is that you have someone who can instantly provide medical help as required. They should always be on-site, and you should have a proper First Aid kit on your premises. Of course, you can’t just single someone out and tell them they’re in charge. They have to undergo the relevant training to be officially qualified to carry out First Aid.
Regular Training
Finally, you need regular health & safety training in your business. All of your employees must understand their roles and duties with regards to health & safety. This ensures they are all on the same page and will follow the correct guidelines.
Employee negligence is a big issue in many small companies. Your staff has no idea about the health & safety policy, so they’re blind to everything they must do. In turn, this leads to many problems where they accidentally breach the policy and put people at risk. It can cause frequent accidents, landing your company in serious trouble. All of this is avoided if they’re trained to understand health & safety and know their responsibilities.
Take all of this information on-board to help your business. There’s nothing worse than suffering massive penalties due to health & safety breaches. It’s such a sad way for a business to enter financial difficulties and an even more painful way for a company to close down.
