What to Do About Dangerous Areas of Your Workplace
As with any space, there are bound to be some dangerous areas of your workplace. While you may be fully aware of these areas, new hires, less-experienced employees, or visitors are not. Strive to create a workplace that is safe for all who work and visit there.
Train Employees on Dangers
Awareness of dangerous areas and equipment will greatly reduce the number of accidents in your workplace. Training employees on dangers as soon as they are hired helps to keep employees safer and healthier in the workplace, which means there will be less work-related illness or injury. Not only will this keep productivity up in your workplace, but it will also help your employees trust that you have their best interests and health in mind, improving employee satisfaction in your company. Consider testing employees after training or having them work alongside an experienced employee for a while to ensure they understand.
Block Off Restricted Areas
There are some dangerous areas of your workplace that regular employees don’t need to be in at all like electrical areas. In addition to alerting employees to dangerous areas during training, you can go a step further by not allowing employees in restricted, high-danger areas that could cause serious injury. Properly placed signs can help employees stay out of areas that contain dangers. Signs should be informative, easy to understand, and placed in very visible locations and heights.
Limit Access to Dangerous Areas
Employees can be instructed on dangers in your workplace, but they aren’t always the only people in your workplace. Sometimes visitors, guests, maintenance workers, or other people come into your workplace with limited knowledge of the dangerous areas there. You can prevent potential injuries and accidents involving these visitors by limiting access to certain areas of your workplace through locks or access doors. This allows you to regulate who can be in restricted or dangerous areas of your workplace, letting who should be and is trained to be there in and keeping others out.
As much as possible, try to limit the amount of dangerous areas and equipment in your workplace. Keep things up to regulation and in good working order to safeguard against accidents and malfunctions. Being proactive and honest with your employees about dangerous areas of your workplace can help you avoid expensive lawsuits and protect the name of your company.
Check out this article on safety standards that can help your business avoid employee harm!