Business

5 Common Health And Safety Issues Businesses Face

  • Mark Edwards ·
  • 0 Comments ·
  • September 23, 2022

Being responsible for a team of people means you need to make sure health and safety are one of your top priorities in the workplace. You’re responsible for anything that happens to your employees while they’re working for you, which means you need to take many things into consideration. Is there anything that could cause physical harm? Is your workplace environment a detriment to mental health? Have your employees received the proper training?

Dangerous Conditions

The conditions that you expect your employees to work in can be a serious risk to their health and safety. Something has gone wrong on-site, you need to see to it that everyone is clear of the hazard and out of harm’s way until it is dealt with. For example, a gas leak or a broken gas pipe can be seriously dangerous to be near, and you would need to have it resolved as soon as possible. Click here now to get more information on dealing with a damaged gas pipe.

Overwhelming Work Environment

Physical dangers are often the main focus when trying to avoid dangerous work environments, but there’s more to them than that. A work environment that has its employees under high stress and too many hours can prove to be very dangerous to work within. Not only can stress harm physical health when experienced too often, but it can also lead to burnout. Degrading mental health due to workplace conditions is something that should be avoided at all times/

If you’re unsure whether or not your workplace is overwhelming for your employees, you should make a point of taking feedback and assessing how it can be improved. Setting deadlines too short and having employees work overtime to meet them is a common occurrence in some workplaces, and it’s never good for morale.

Lack of Risk Assessment

Risk assessment is vital if you’re going to make sure everything goes smoothly during the day. When it comes to physical work, you need your employees to know the risks of operating, and how to avoid injury.  Making sure your staff are fully aware of how to perform a risk assessment should be done before any work begins. 

Not Enough Equipment Maintenance

Overusing equipment can lead it to quickly wear down and start to malfunction, especially if you’re not making sure to maintain it during use. Not properly taking care of your tools and machinery can make them dangerous to operate, and expensive to replace. Performing regular and thorough maintenance lowers the chance of them malfunctioning or breaking during use.

Improper Training

When doing physical labor or working with power tools, employees without proper training may be at serious risk of injury. Sometimes it can be hard to identify the risks of operating certain machines if the right training hasn’t been had, which could lead to severe injuries while at work. If you’re going to have people working under you, see that they’ve had the correct training to perform the job they’re doing.