Workplace safety refers to ensuring the safe environment at the place where employees do their jobs. Workplace safety is not just for employees. It is also for the property, machines and other equipment that is present at the workplace. Workplace safety is extremely important. As it helps drive the employees into giving better performance. The employess have the motivation, and the chances of accidents and injuries are considerably less. Workplace safety tips should be a part of the employee manuals to ensure a safe work environment.
Moreover, workplace safety is also important because of the public’s and pressure groups’ pressures. People have more and more concern about the society and its welfare. Customers want to buy products from those companies that care about the society and the employees. Therefore, most of the companies these days have necessary safety measures at the workplace. Adding to this, they also have first aid arrangements and even hospitals at some places.
Workplace safety tips
The importance of workplace safety is mentioned above. Now, we will be discussing some workplace safety tips to ensure employee safety.
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Using machinery and tools in an appropriate manner
Most of the workplaces have machinery and tools that can cause harm to employees if proper care is not there. So, employees have to have an understanding of the hazards of different machinery and tools. They need to be given proper guidance about how those machines and tools work in the safest way possible. Slogans regarding machinery hazards must be put up all around the workplace. Moreover, proper care of machinery needs to be taken so that the machinery does not malfunction and harms the employees. For example, some machinery requires placement in a cool environment otherwise it can heat up and cause a fire.
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Proper protective uniform
Another one of the workplace safety tips is to wear proper protective uniforms. These can include helmets, protective guards, masks, gloves, clothes of a particular material and so on. These protective uniforms can protect employees from injuries in case of any accidents. These uniforms should be provided by the employers as they can be quite expensive for the employees. Adding to this, protective uniforms must be made compulsory for employees at the workplace; no employee should have the permission to enter the workplace without wearing proper uniforms.
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Staying sober at work
Staying alcohol and drug free at work is extremely important, because if employees are not sober while at work, they not only risk their own safety, but they also endanger their colleagues. So, this is the responsibility of the employees that they should never come to work after having alcohol or drugs, and they should not even smoke while at work. Adding to this, it is also the employer’s responsibility to prohibit drugs and alcohol from the workplace. The workplace shall not allow employees to come to the workplace while they are not sober and if someone does come to work after taking alcohol or drugs, strict action needs to be taken against him/her for endangering his and his colleagues’ safety.
A prior warning needs to be given to each employee working in the company, or a clause needs to be a part of the employment contract that alcohol and drugs have no place at the workplace and punishment will be given to those who do not abide by the rules.
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Proper heating & lighting
Another one of the workplace safety tips is to provide proper heat and light to employees working at a workplace. Some jobs are quite tedious and require a lot of patience. So, employees can easily lose their temper if they do not get proper light or proper temperature to work in. It is the employer’s responsibility to provide the heat and light. Moreover, irritating lighting colors, such as bright yellow bulbs, should not be a part of the setup.
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Toilet, washing and rest arrangements
In case the employees need to go to the washroom or want to have some rest, the workplace should have proper toilet and resting area facilities. These are the requirements of many countries’ governments too as these are basic human needs. People spend much of their days’ time away from home at the workplace, so they need to get some rest, or the chances of their accidents may increase due to pressure and stress. Moreover, clean water and food must also be given to the employees by the employer in order to keep the employees all set for their work.
Safety slogans and signs
Another one of the workplace safety tips to ensure employee safety is to place adequate safety slogans and signs at appropriate places all over the workplace. Safety signs remind the employees about the safety and how to operate things at a certain place, while the safety slogans motivate the employees to adopt safety measures while working. A very important safety sign that must be present in workplaces is about the posture when lifting heavy things up. Bending to lift things up can seriously damage your backbone; the correct way is to sit down on your toes, pick the thing and then get up.
Another important safety sign is on the wet floor so that the employees do not slip and hurt themselves. Other safety signs include ‘wear a helmet’, ‘hot surface ahead’, ‘wear shoes that cover feet, ahead of this point’, ‘low oxygen ahead’ and so on.
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First aid
One of the most important safety tips to ensure employee safety, or actually the most important one is to have first aid arrangements at the workplace in case anything goes wrong. Moreover, some workplaces even have hospitals to give medications in case an employee gets an injury or ill while working. This is extremely important for employees’ morale, because they know that they will be taken care of in case anything bad happens.
These workplace safety tips are extremely essential for employee safety and must be a part of each workplace. Many of the safety measures are even a must by the law. Adding to this, more and more people are now getting socially aware, so if you do not have good safety measures at the workplace, your company might get a bad image.
