6 Ways To Keep Employees Safe In The Workplace

Articles

As a business owner, you are not only responsible for your company's financial success, but also for the safety and welfare of your employees while they're at work. Unfortunately, we live in a world where emergencies can happen at any time, from potentially violent crimes to fires. There are, however, specific things you can do to help keep your employees secure and promote a safe workplace environment. Here are six ideas:

Install a Commercial Security System

A high quality security system is critical to keeping your employees safe. Sometimes just noticing that there is a security system in place will be enough to scare off would-be criminals, but if a break-in or other crime happens your security system will immediately alert the appropriate authorities.

These days, security systems often come with great features like CCTV cameras, and remote access that allow you to arm, disarm, and monitor the security system from your phone even when you're away from the office.

Add Motion Sensor Outdoor Lights

If the outside of your business isn't well-lit, employees may feel unsafe when walking to or from their cars after dark. An energy-efficient and safe solution to this problem is to have motion sensor lights installed. These will automatically turn on when someone leaves or approaches the building, but stay off when no one is around. This not only keeps your employees more safe, but keeps your business's energy costs down as well.

Encourage Open Communication

One of the most powerful ways to foster a safe workplace is to encourage open communication among your employees. Your staff should know they can freely speak up if something makes them uncomfortable or if they feel unsafe for any reason. This could include situations like a fellow employee making strange remarks or even threats, or a stranger lurking around your business for no apparent reason. These tips for establishing better communication in the workplace are a great place to start.

Offer Self Defense Courses

Consider coordinating with your benefits department to offer free self defense classes to your staff from time to time. Hopefully they will never need to use their newfound self defense skills, but should they need to they will be better able to protect themselves. Plus, adding perks like this helps your business stand out as a great place to work, and can lead to improved team morale and bonding.

Have a Written Plan

Even a very small business needs a written emergency plan that is distributed to all employees. It should include critical information such as how to safely exit the building in case of an emergency, local emergency contact information, as well as a list of potential emergencies with best practices. It is always a smart idea to have this plan looked over by your attorney as well as your insurance representative before distributing it to your staff.

Schedule Regular Fire Drills

In order to ensure that your employees know how to safely evacuate the building in case of a fire, it is important to schedule fire drills on a regular basis. There is no hard and fast rule about how often to do so, but most businesses consider annual fire drills to be the minimum. You may want to check with your business's insurance company, as they may have specific guidelines regarding fire drills.

Be sure to replace smoke detector batteries at least once a year (doing so the day before a fire drill is a good way to remember) and to always have a working, accessible fire extinguisher on the premises as well.

By implementing these ideas you will gain peace of mind, and your employees will appreciate that you care about their safety at work.

24 February 2016