While there can be no denying that health and safety is vital in any business, it is staggering the number of companies that exist that do not put health and safety high up their agenda. So many businesses focus their attention on profits rather than the people who work for them, or who enter their premises, they only find out the hard way that they should have been thinking about these important and fundamental aspects earlier.
Understand the Consequences
If you are negligent when it comes to managing the health and safety risks in your company, then in the best-case scenario you will get a fine. You may have your business closed down while remedial work is carried out and you may suffer a loss of income during that time.
But these financial losses are nothing in comparison to the real potential cost, and that is the lives of your visitors, customers, or staff members. If one person dies because of something that you have not done, as a business leader, you become personally liable for this, and it could be a prison term.
Get Insured
One of the most basic things that you need is public liability insurance. Whether you need to cover a public building or are looking for tradesman insurance, make sure that you have the correct level of cover for your business. Be sure that you understand the fine print and that you are happy with it all. It is worth knowing the ins-and-outs of your business insurance in case you ever do ever have a claim against you.
Assess Risk
Carrying out risk assessments regularly is important as it will highlight any areas of concern that you may not have already considered. Your premises may have many hazards that you will not have noticed. Going through these things with a fine-tooth comb will help you to create a plan of the ways that you will deal with these issues. Rate all of the risks in your business, and work out what you can do to minimize these risks.
Carry Out Safety Checks
You need to be sure that all of your health and safety related equipment is all in working order and is as it should be. This means carrying out a weekly test of the fire alarm bell. You should check your emergency lights are working when the power is off and that no bulbs or batteries are needing to be replaced. If you use any form of equipment in the workplace such as ladders, check these. If you have electrical equipment or machinery, then this should be assessed by a professional.
Team Health and Safety Training
One of the most important things about health and safety is to ensure that your team fully understandings the company evacuation procedure. Run through this on their first day before they do anything else. Cover everything in your training regardless of whether you believe that it should be considered as common sense.