Risky business: 3 things you should be doing to keep your employees safe
Some businesses are increasingly focused on improving their employees’ health, safety and well-being out of a desire to improve the overall success and profitability of the company. Other businesses have a solid desire to promote employees’ wellness, to minimize exposure to liability or out of a general concern for their well-being as humans.
Regardless of your motivation, there are several steps that you could be taking to improve your team’s safety and overall wellness that you may not currently be taking.
Annual water and air analysis
Water and air pollution are serious and growing concerns. You cannot assume that tap water is safe for your team to drink. You also should be aware that many indoor environments have more air pollution than the outdoor environment. Testing your office’s water and air regularly can help you to identify steps that are beneficial for purifying it as needed.
Availability of mental health services
Mental health concerns, such as excessive stress, anxiety, depression and more, can be detrimental to a company. These types of mental health issues are unfortunately common, and many people do not actively seek treatment. They may not want to take time out of their day, or they may not be certain if their insurance covers the cost.
When you offer periodic therapy sessions for your team, you can help each of your employees to be more aware of mental health and to learn about treatment options that may be possible when they are needed.
Regular assessment of risks
Each business environment has unique risk factors that can be difficult to pinpoint. You cannot afford to take any chances with this aspect of your operations. The good news is that there are now commercial risk assessment software programs available that can assess your company’s exposure to risk. More than that, it could specifically itemize the risks and offer helpful suggestions to mitigate these risks going forward. Regardless of the size of your business, this type of program can be critical to risk management.
Keeping your employees safe is important for everything from morale and productivity to liability mitigation and more. The first step to take is to identify the most significant risk and safety factors that may impact your employees. After identifying them, you can spend time determining the best way to improve your operations in these ways. Remember that this will be an ongoing effort rather than a one-time project. You should continuously strive to improve in this area for the best results.
