Don’t Overlook These Workplace Health And Safety Features. There’s more to workplace health and safety than hard hats and wet floor signs.
On top of immediate dangers, you need to consider some of the long-term hazards in your workplace.
Then there’s also the task of training employees in health and safety procedures.
Below are 5 commonly overlooked health and safety features to stay on top of to protect the wellbeing of your workforce.
Air quality
Breathing in dirty or polluted air could cause you and your employees to develop respiratory issues in the future.
Make sure that the air inside your workplace is kept clean.
There are companies like Mansfield Pollard that can help to install ventilation systems built for your workplace’s needs.
Alternatively, if air pollution is unavoidable, make sure that your employees are all supplied with face masks or respirators.
Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the science of arranging equipment and furniture to fit the human body.
This can be important for preventing repetitive strain injuries.
Poorly arranged desk layouts and non-adjustable chairs are a leading cause of back problems in office workers.
Make sure that you lay out desks in a way so that workers have enough legroom and elbow room, and invest in chairs that are fully adjustable so that your employees can get comfortable.
This could prevent your workers from developing aches and pains in the long run.
Noise protection
Some work environments can get very noisy.
Constant exposure to loud noises could cause you and your employees to develop hearing damage if you don’t wear some kind of ear protection.
Supplying ear plugs or ear defenders is recommended when working with loud equipment such as factory machinery or power tools.
To determine whether your workplace has unsafe noise levels, you can use a decibel meter (constant exposure to anything over 85 decibels is dangerous).
Ringing in the ears after leaving work is also a sign that you workplace is unhealthily loud.
This guide at RNID offers more information on preventing hearing damage in the workplace.
Fire safety training
A lot of workplaces do have fire escapes, smoke detectors and fire extinguishers.
However, few actually train their staff how to react in a fire.
It’s vital that you conduct fire drills so that you and your employees know where to escape and where to assemble outdoors.
Appointing someone as a fire warden is recommended – this could be you or a senior employee.
The fire warden will have to attend a fire safety course and will be in charge of evacuating everyone in the event of a fire and using fire extinguishers if necessary.
First aid training
If someone gets hurt at your work premises, there should be a staff member on duty who is qualified to carry out basic first aid training.
A lot of workplaces don’t have a trained first aider.
Make sure that you or an employee undergoes a first aid training course.
It’s also important to have a fully stocked first aid kit on site so that employees have access to plasters and bandages in the event of a workplace injury.
Hope you’ve found our article, Don’t Overlook These Workplace Health And Safety Features useful.
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