It’s your responsibility as an employer to make sure that you’re providing a healthy and safe place to work. Most of the time, you might think of this in terms of preventing accidents and injuries in the workplace. However, there are health hazards beyond slips, trips, falls, tool mishaps, and the like to contend with. Here are some to keep in mind.
Noise
Depending on where you work, noise can be one of the most common and yet underrated risks of the workplace. Any noises that are over 75 decibels can start to contribute to permanent hearing loss. See if there are any noises that fit within the range that is dangerous for hearing and consider investing in protective equipment such as ear mufflers to make sure that your team is protected from them, if so.
Air quality
When it comes to creating a healthy place to work, you need to think about whether or not simply being in the workplace might make your staff ill. Sick building syndrome is real and normally it’s due to some form of unseen issues in the air. As such, improving the air quality by improving ventilation can make an important difference. Even if there are no obvious contaminants in the building, a lack of ventilation will steadily increase the growth of bacteria, not to mention dust and other irritants in the air.
Contamination
Of course, air quality gets a lot worse when there are contaminants to be worried about in the workplace. Some old buildings can have elements like asbestos in them, which are dangerous. In most cases, however, these hazards come from the kind of work your team does. For instance, in the health care industry, investing in medical waste disposal is vital. After all, there are several items that can become contaminated with bodily fluids and blood. In other industries, contamination can occur due to foodstuffs or hazardous materials. Make sure you have adequate practices to maintain standards of cleanliness and prevent contamination.
Back injuries
Aside from slips, trips, and falls, back injuries tend to be the most common. However, they’re not necessarily caused by any accident or injurious incident. It’s more often the case that they happen because not enough care has been taken to maintain good posture. Providing ergonomic furniture for your team, and making sure they are free, able, and encouraged to take breaks to move is vital in preventing this.
Fire
Every workplace has some degree of fire risk to consider and to mitigate. You need to make sure you are meeting any regulatory requirements to provide fire escapes as well as fire extinguishers in the workplace, and to have a fire escape plan. If you feel you are lacking or you want to make the workplace as safe as possible, it may be worth investing in a fire safety audit.
With the tips above, you can make sure that you’re taking steps to address all of the risks that could make your workplace dangerous to your employees, not just some of them.
No comments yet.