Maintaining a Safe Workplace is as
important as running a successful business because unless you have a safe
working environment, you are hardly likely to see any progress. It is a
manager's job to see that all security measures are adhered to in order to keep
accidents at work from occurring. Besides this, accidents can cost you a lot of
money and even the loss of a day's work. It is therefore essential that you
have a safe workplace that is free from any kind of health hazard, as this will
keep your employees happy and they will perform better at their jobs.
It should also be noted that you
alone as a manager cannot bring in all the changes or take the entire
responsibility of creating a safe workplace. You will need to involve your
employees to help you preserve a safe and healthy workplace. It is they who can
identify and inspect hazards so that they can be avoided. For this, you may
even require a training process that will help employees recognize any
discrepancies that may arise due to bad equipment or machinery or any other
thing that might cause health hazards. A manager should be friendly and be able
to relate with the employees so that they can without any hesitation report
their problems directly. A common perception that employees have is of not
being able to level with their peers or seniors. This is the very notion that
you need to get out of their minds by being open to their suggestions and even
including them in your policies that are made for managing a safe workplace.
However, running a safe
workplace must begin with you and it is you who has to set the goals for
the others to follow.
The very first step to avoiding
accidents at work is to formulate a policy that emphasizes the benefits of a
safe workplace. You must give your full commitment and expect the same from
your employees. Also insist on getting to the root cause of any accidents at
work so that they can be prevented from being repeated again. Assign someone
who will be accountable for maintaining a safe workplace and ensure that the
person understands his or her duties well or you could hold the person
responsible for negligence.
The safety of your employees is of
vital importance and is also their legal right. You must therefore have
provisions in your safety policy that any employee exposed to health hazards at
the workplace or injured in an accident at work, shall be compensated for it.
You may have to pay for hospitalization or even an operation. Occupational
therapy is also a good way of checking on the mental, physical and
psychological well being of your employees. The need for introducing
occupational therapy is being widely seen by entrepreneurs and small businesses
as well.
Occupational therapy uses
consequential occupations to encourage good health thereby helping people
improve their work performance and do their jobs in a more balanced way. As a
manager you must be able to recognize any problems that your employees may face
and help resolve them and even recommend occupational therapy. Keeping a safe
workplace that is free of health risks or injury is an absolute way of creating
a happy environment and success for your business.
