As an employer, it is your duty to care for the health and safety of your employees in the workplace. There are a number of things that you should do to ensure and maintain the safety of those in your place of employment, and a number of laws that must be followed at all times.
Check That All Your Workers Are Well-Trained
The better trained your employees are, the safer they will be. It’s also great for the business as they’ll be better at the jobs after extensive training. Keep your files up-to-date with everybody’s training programs and share the responsibility of training your team properly with more senior, trusted members of staff. Not only does this help you to highlight any ‘problematic’ areas where more training is needed, the added responsibility makes employees feel valued.
While you’re training your employees, make sure you factor in first-aid courses. Always ensure that you have professionally qualified first-aiders on every shift. That way if anything does happen, there will always be somebody who knows what to do.
Use The Right Equipment For The Right Job
One of the most important things to ensure in a warehouse environment is that the correct equipment is readily available to employees, and that it is well-maintained. By neglecting this duty, you could place your workers at risk of injury or inadvertently damage your stock.
One of the most important things to consider in a warehouse is machinery that helps to lift and move heavy objects. You should have different equipment for these tasks, like pallet trucks, manual stackers and forklift trucks. Each piece of equipment can hold a varying array of weights and sizes, but it is imperative that you use the equipment to the specifications that it states. Consider buying a variety of different lifts and trucks in order to cater for every item that you stock. Check out Handling Equipment Online to learn more about the different types of lifting equipment you need for your workplace.
Maintain Your Warehouse Properly
When we talk about maintenance, we mean everything from keeping the floors clean and spill-free to keeping the equipment running smoothly and without fault. Create a schedule in which everything in the warehouse, from the shelves to the bigger vans, trucks and heavy machinery, get thoroughly checked over and cleaned regularly. If something isn’t working properly, get it fixed as quickly as possible. This will increase productivity, save money in the long run and keep your employees safe. Check out these tips for some help on maintaining your warehouse.
Following this advice will help you to keep your employees happy and safe. You will gain more productive hours as workers won’t be injured or sick which will hugely benefit your business. Even better, they are more likely to appreciate their working environment more.
