Posted by on Mar 12, 2018 in Business | 0 questions

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The emphasis on health and safety has, in recent years, gone over and above what anyone could have expected 10 years ago. While many people decry the trend as ‘health and safety gone mad!’ it’s actually benefited them in many different ways. In fact, health and safety are now so important, that as a business owner, you need to think about a wide range of different aspects to ensure that your staff will be safe and you will not be liable.

Indeed, it is liability that has really spawned the craze for health and safety and in an increasingly litigious world, you don’t want to be the boss who gets a massive fine laid at your feet just because you didn’t check the fire exists or failed to test your electrics.

Have Regular Health and safety Tests and Checks

One of the most simple things you can do is arrange (or have your HR department arrange) visits from health and safety companies to test and check that your office, and everything in it, is to industry standards. This means having someone come to check the electrics, doing a health and safety risk assessment and updating it every year and dealing with any problems that may arise in between.

Because health and safety is never really noticeable – we all just expect that if we can’t see a problem, there is no problem – get into the habit of putting reminders into your calendar to schedule these tests.

Do You Need Security for Your Offices?

Depending on the type of business you have and the size of your office it might be sensible to have security staff. These employees aren’t just for sitting around watching the CCTV, they should also do area patrols, assist people entering and leaving the building and may even perform checks such as bag searches.

Many buildings come with security attached, especially if you are only renting a portion, but if you have your own premises, you should make your own arrangements. Try looking into executive protection Houston to start thinking about what kind of security you will need.

Write a Policy Everyone Has Access to

One the of the most important parts of health and safety is making sure that everyone in the office has access to the workplace policy you have written. This will tell them basic things like where the fire exits are and where they should assemble to the more fine details such as policies on sick leave or how to report bullying.

The purpose of the policy is to give everyone the information they need to act safely, but it will also create a standard procedure so that should anything go wrong, everyone knows what they should be doing. You may wish to have a professional company look over your policy before you publish it, and do take any advice from your staff into account where necessary.

Health and safety at work should be a given and if you do all these basic steps, you shouldn’t have any problem at all.