Old employees, new employees, it doesn’t matter who they are, how long they’ve been there, or what they do, they need to be ready to work. So many companies are failing their employees in this aspect. They’re either under-trained, overworked, or they aren’t properly equipped with the tools they need to work safely. Don’t let your company be like this. The risk you’re putting yourself at, as well as your employees is just huge. The last thing you want is a claim on your hands, and the last thing they want is an injury that could potentially put them out of work. But it isn’t just health and safety that is causing the biggest issue, there are so many other reasons why your employees might not be as ready to work as you might think they are. Have a read on to find out more, and to realize what you might need to fix about your workplace.
Health & Safety
Health and safety is one of the biggest things within a workplace. Even small offices have to be slightly conscious of what they’re doing, and whether the office is actually safe for their employees. Simple little things like a trip hazard could result in a lawsuit that is just too big to handle for some small companies. With bigger companies that operate within a warehouse, factory, or building site, there are so many other health and safety violations that are being breached. They’re a lot more serious than just having a wire hanging out as well. Staff are walking around unprotected in terms of hard hats, hi vis jackets, and other safety equipment such as goggles. It’s often the case that different employees will need different uniforms depending on the job they’re doing. For example, all people of a construction site will be required to wear a hi vis, whether it be day or night, to ensure they’re as visible as possible to people who might be operating machinery around them. If everyone is wearing the same thing, it can also help to boost team morale as well. Nobody likes to feel left out, and uniforms literally create unity.
So, all it takes is one simple things to go wrong, something like a nail gun firing at another employee. All it has to do is hit them in the eye and if you haven’t provided them with the goggles they needed to do the job they’re doing, you’ll be the one paying out thousands in compensation. It doesn’t cost much to buy the pieces of clothing and safety equipment that you employees need, and it doesn’t take long to make sure you’re enforcing the rule of wearing it at all times whilst in the workplace.
It isn’t just accidents that can put you in deep waters, random safety inspections can easily close your business down within minutes. Safety inspections are essential in working environments such as factories and construction sites, these inspections are likely to be carried out monthly. Usually a company will be aware of an upcoming inspection, but sometimes they’re done at random, and decided on the day. Finally, it’s important to have notices up around the workplace advising employees of safety procedures. From warnings about certain types of machinery, to information about where to go if there is ever a fire. Simple little things like this are going to mean your employees are ready to work. So now we hope you can see that it’s so important to make health and safety your number one priority when running your business. Not only is their health and well-being at stake, but the future of your company could hang in the balance if you do not follow even the simplest of instructions that we’ve given above.
Undertrained
This paragraph is going to link massively to the health and safety paragraph, because nothing creates more of a health and safety issue than someone who has never been trained to do what they’re doing. It is so common now, especially in areas such as construction, for companies to take on laborers who have absolutely no experience, and for the staff to just leave them so they can go and do the tasks they need to do. This is truly the worst thing you can do. It creates such an opportunity for things to go wrong, both health wise, and work wise. Whatever line of work your company is in, it’s important to make sure your staff has full training before starting the job. Not only is it a safety issue, but it can also cause real anxiety for a new member of staff to be left on their own when they’re not entirely sure what to do, and they don’t know anyone they work with to have the confidence to ask what to do next. It can lead to mistakes, and mistakes often lead to anger. But if you haven’t trained that employee right then you have no right to be angry. We advise an induction week so that full training can be given with shadowing of a current employee. Everything can then be perfect, and the rules of health and safety within the workplace can be perfected before they officially start with your company. It gives them such a better and more confident start, and your employee retainment statistics should stay nice and high.
Overworked
Again, this is going to link to the health and safety section for one good reason, being overworked will always lead to issues somewhere down the line. It could be a lapse in concentration that causes an accident, or even extreme tiredness that can cause your employees to become ill. There are laws that you need to follow that state you should always give 11 hours rest between a shift. This doesn’t apply to people who are self employed, they’re allowed to manage their own time and hours. But if you do have subcontractors working for you who seem to be overworking themselves, make sure you step up and have a word. Any accidents that happen in your place of work will reflect badly on you. Make sure you’re always giving your employees a fair amount of rest, and are always looking out for signs of fatigue that could lead to an accident.
I hope you enjoyed this article about how to make sure your employees are safe and productive in the workplace.
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