An industrial business can be any company that operates in a warehouse or uses lots of industrial machinery. Two big ones that come to mind are manufacturing and distribution businesses. If you run an industrial company, the safety of your employees is paramount. It should come before anything else, as safety risks will lead to business-ending problems. An injured employee can sue you for millions if you’re not careful. Plus, it is your legal obligation to provide a safe and healthy workplace.
Consequently, you must be aware of the biggest safety risks in your industrial workplace. By understanding what these are, you can work on preventing them. That is the key when it comes to safety – prevention is always the best approach. Without wasting any more time on an introduction, let’s dive into the most significant safety risks:
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Fires
In non-industrial settings, the threat of fire is fairly low. It would take a big mistake to cause a fire in an office, for example. However, due to all the machinery and equipment in your workplace, fires are far more common. They won’t happen all the time, but the chances of a fire are greater in an industrial setting.
What can you do to prevent fires?
To start, you need to have a proper fire safety plan written up with warning signs around the building and fire extinguishers close by. You should then consider installing fire and smoke dampers to prevent and control the spread of any fires. Finally, you need to conduct regular inspections and maintenance of your equipment. This helps you detect any faults before they manifest into something more dangerous. Thus, you can avoid a machine malfunction that causes a fire.
Slip & Fall Accidents
With so many employees walking around, there’s bound to be a high risk of slip and fall accidents. Especially when you consider that industrial settings get filthy very quickly. As such, you will have constant cleaning of the facilities, further increasing the chances of incidents. This type of accident is the one that most commonly leads to injury and will land your business in hot water. You’re liable for any injuries or accidents on your premises, so expect a lawsuit if one occurs.
What can you do to prevent these accidents?
Well, a lot revolves around your employee’s behaviors and how they act. If they mess around, there’s a higher chance of slipping and falling. However, you can take some steps to reduce the risks considerably. Firstly, make it mandatory that all of your employees wear appropriate footwear and clothing. They should wear shoes that grip the floor and provide ample support. Also, they should avoid wearing anything long that can trip them up. Next, you can organize cleaning when everyone leaves, so the wetness disappears by the morning. This will prevent instances where someone slips on a wet floor. Finally, make sure you install a slip-resistant flooring, along with some anti-slip tape on problem areas. This tape is essential on stairs as it can stop people from slipping down them.
Lifting Accidents
This final safety risk refers to accidents that happen when someone manually lifts an object. An obvious example is someone bending down to lift up a box and doing their back in. Again, you will be responsible for this as it is an accident that happened on your premises. Plus, it’s implied that you should train your employees to lift correctly.
What can you do to prevent lifting accidents?
Well, we just alluded to one thing; teach your employees the correct lifting technique. This should be part of their training before they start work. Ensure they know how to lift using their legs, rather than lifting with their lower back. The view below explains things perfectly and provides a visual example:
Following this, it helps to include alternatives to manual lifting. For instance, invest in forklift trucks or other equipment that takes the manual strain out of lifting. Now, your employees have less chance of hurting themselves by moving things around.
In conclusion, the very nature of an industrial business presents more risks than one in an office setting. Therefore, it’s up to you to ensure that you protect your employees with excellent safety procedures. The things mentioned above are just three examples of the safety risks you face. There will be more, and it’s your duty to draw up a health & safety plan that keeps everyone – and everything – safe. Otherwise, your business will be in hot water if accidents happen as you could face severe financial consequences.
Health and safety in the workplace is something which is of the utmost importance. It is crucial that you ensure that your business runs at the optimum safety levels and that all risks are diminished to the lowest level possible. To ensure that this is the case there are lots of components which need to be considered. One of the main things that you need to ensure is that your employees embark on a select health and safety training course. After all, they all need to be trained in regards to how to make sure that the work area is a safe place; moreover, they need to be knowledgeable in the instance that a fellow employee or member of the general public requires first aid.
Don’t forget training
When it comes to selecting the right health and safety training for your staff there are lots of different options which will be available to you. It is crucial that you take the time and effort to select the right option. After all, different businesses require a different level of training. In basic terms, there are high-risk industries and there are low-risk industries. If your business is involved in the construction industry then you and your staff will require a much deeper and extensive form of health and safety training in comparison to a small clothes shop. This is obviously because there are more risks involved in construction work. Of course, there are more factors aside from the basic division of high risk and low risk. Other factors which need to be contemplated is whether potentially dangerous equipment or substances are utilized, how many people (including non-employees) enter the workplace on a daily basis, and more.
As mentioned, every business has different levels of health and safety required. And thus, it is highly recommended that business owners opt for an online health and safety training course. You can find several companies online which offer the service whereby they create, deliver and track a health and safety course which is tailor made to your business specifically. This is important because it ensures that the training offered is solely specific to the company in question and thus employees will benefit from a thorough understanding of health and safety in relation to their workplace specifically.
When selecting which company to go for when it comes to providing you with online health and safety training you need to consider several factors. First and foremost, you should ensure that the company can offer you certificates or licenses. Moreover, they should pride themselves on working closely with their clients as this is how the best software is created. And finally, make sure that the bespoke training courses they offer cover all areas of health and safety. Thus, this means you need to opt for a company which provides everything from manual handling to fire safety to a general induction to safety awareness and more.
Seek the services of a top fire safety consultant for your business
In the workplace, health and safety are of pivotal importance. No matter how big or small your business is, and no matter what industry you operate in, you need to have the proper procedures in place to ensure that risks and hazards are limited.
One area of health and safety which all employers need to turn their attention to is fire safety. After all, a fire could occur in any building at any time and thus employees need to be trained in order to make sure the situation is controlled and no damage occurs.
In order for your employees to benefit from this knowledge and training, you will need to book a training session with a fire safety consultant. This is very much recommended because each workplace is different and so each business possesses different risks and hazards. A fire consultant obviously has a vast level of experience and firsthand knowledge in the fire industry, and thus they will be able to provide training and advice which is bespoke to the company in question. Therefore, you can ensure you won’t experience the generic talk which a lot of companies get, instead you will benefit from training which is truly useful and unique to your workplace.
Hire a safety consultant
The other great thing about booking a fire safety consultant to come to your premises is that no stone will be left unturned and so you can rest assured that every area of fire safety is covered. If you don’t do this, you could easily have a company like Robinette Law on your case because of a personal injury. This means that you will learn about; emergency lighting, fire prevention, fire doors, means of escape, fire extinguishers, record keeping, person at risk, and so on and so forth.
You may think that your employees will find fire safety training a drag. However, you will actually find that they will feel a lot more positive and confident afterwards. This is because they will feel assured that they are prepared for whatever may happen and thus they will feel a lot safer.
When seeking a fire safety consultant you obviously need to make sure that you book from a company which is credible and of an extremely high standard. It is imperative that the consultant can come to you. After all, how can they offer you fire safety training which is applicable if they do not even see the premises?
In addition to this, it is also recommended that you seek fire training from a company whose courses have been approved by the Institution of Fire Engineers. This will assure you of quality and a high level of training.
A final point worth noting is that the company in question should be willing to give you a free quote and free information regarding the training which your employees will benefit from. After all, you have a right to know what you may be spending your money on. Nevertheless, there are lots of companies out there which try to charge you for quotes and information so don’t fall for it.
It is crucial that you seek some form of fire training for your employees. Paying for a fire safety consultant who can offer a bespoke service catered to your business specifically is something which is very much recommended.