No matter how large or small your organization is, you must ensure that you create a safe working environment for you and your employees.
But of course, the nature of some workplaces makes employees’ more vulnerable to various incidents like physical, chemical or biological hazards. Building and construction, for example, would expose most workers to physical accidents or injuries.
However, whether the workplace safety incidents result from biological, chemical, or physical hazards, it would be better if you could protect your employees from any environmental emergencies. In other words, your employees’ health should be your topmost priority.
This article discusses some of the best tips you can deploy to make your workplace safe for you and your employees’ health emergencies.
But first, we’ve covered workplace health and some of the workplace accidents you can expect.
What is workplace health?
Workplace health involves limiting health hazards within your work environment. This entails examining and analyzing your work environment for potential health hazardous agents and taking strategic precautions to protect your workers.
Here are the types of hazards
In any workplace, employees would be faced with several health risks. Included are:
- Biological hazards
These are health risks from organisms, including individuals working within the company, animals, and plants, threatening employees’ health. Examples may include sewage, blood, and body fluids.
Such hazards can result in allergies or diseases that may put the lives of your employees or workers in danger. They would even limit your workers’ ability to carry out their different tasks effectively.
- Chemical hazards
Depending on what your firm is dealing with, you may have toxic, corrosive, and explosive chemicals that may put your workers in danger. Some of the chemicals may pose a health risk if your employees inhale, absorb or ingest them even through their skins.
Most of the chemicals can also cause a lot of harm like burns, vomiting, and irritation, among other effects. Others would cause chronic diseases like asthma, cancer, or damaged liver.
- Physical hazards
Any working environment would present some physical hazards that can pose health risks and emergencies. Some of the physical threats can be excessive noise or radiation that can cause respiratory complications and hearing problems to your workers, among others.
Some of the physical hazards to address could be: air circulation, strategies against slips, falls, or trips, electrical and natural disasters, among others.
Most of these workplace health hazards are preventable. So, for you to protect your employees against workplace emergencies, ensure you implement the following workplace safety:
From the above hazards, good workplace safety for health should prevent injuries and illness in the workplace. Therefore, you should strive to promote your workers’ health and well-being.
So what can we do to ensure a safe work environment?
Tips to make your workplace safe for health emergencies
- Ensure a clean working environment
We have discussed some of the physical hazards. For instance, there could displace or drop objects in the construction work that may harm your workings who are unaware of their existence.
Therefore, ensure you maintain a clean working environment. What would happen if you have your working tools scattered all over your workplace? That exposes your workers to injuries and accidents.
So you have to ensure that you keep your environment tidy to reduce any chances of your employees getting hurt.
Also, you can always make workers aware of their surroundings should they be working for the first time and know their environment. Remember, they could ditch within your workplace, and without knowing, they can be at risk of injuries.
- Ensure the machine and equipment used are in good condition
Whichever field you work in, you must ensure your equipment are in good condition. You may have quality tools and equipment, but if they are not in good condition, you’re putting the health of your employees at risk.
Therefore, ensure you sharpen machines or equipment with cutting edges, clean and lubricate those with moving parts.
For the chemical hazard that can affect your workers.”
- Ensure aerated workplace
As earlier mentioned, your working environment’s air quality can negatively affect your workers’ health and comfort. Of course, factors like sewage and other chemicals can affect the air your employees breathe.
Poor quality air may cause headaches, eye irritations, and poor concentration, among other health complications. You can also ensure you clean the ambiance of your workplace or disinfect air and surface with purifiers.
In addition to aeration, you can ensure you:
- Encourage regular breaks
It’s healthy to take a break from your typical work and have a fresh breath. This makes you more likely to know your surroundings and thus fewer injuries. The chances are high that you would cause accidents or fall victim to injuries if you’re burned out. Therefore, get some fresh air to ease your stress or trauma.
- Provide first aid kit
You may never know when you may experience accidents, so always ensure you have first aid within your workplace environment. This would help save a life when any of your workers are hurt. Better still, it would ensure employees are safe from infections like HIV, especially when the injured employee is living with HIV. The protective gears in your first aid ensure protection.
Conclusion
Every workplace should have some safety guidelines to help protect its employees from health emergencies. Therefore, ensure you protect your workers from both physical, chemical, and biological hazards.