Safety Measures Every Entrepreneur Must Consider When Setting Up a Business
Not complying with safety regulations can actually cost your business thousands in the long run, so your best bet would be to always comply. Having said that, finding out about regulations and safety measures can be a very arduous and complicated process. That’s why this article is going to provide you with some of the safety measures that every entrepreneur must consider when setting up a business.
Understand Existing Safety Laws
The main ‘law’ that all businesses must adhere to is that they are responsible for providing employees with a safe working environment. Although this sounds simple enough, it’s not always that easy.
Hiring a lawyer is the best and easiest way to ensure that you are compliant and have all documentation about measures you have put in place to ensure the environment is safe.
Work Out Any Existing Business Risks
Lots of health and safety professionals carry out free safety checks which is definitely worth looking into when setting up a business. Alongside this, you can also ask employees where they feel there may be a risk. Because your employees are spending the most amount of time on the job, they’re usually the best people to ask.
Document All Safety Protocol
As touched on previously, it’s important to document all risk assessments and safety solutions you’ve come up with. Anything you have in place to prevent accidents and processes for dealing with any that do occur need to be documented – once you are sure they meet the industry’s standards.
Without this information you won’t be considered to be compliant with health and safety regulations and are likely to run into some trouble.
Make Sure All Employees Are Health And Safety Educated
The safety act requires by law that all employees are given safety training that makes them aware of how to spot potential hazards and how to control them.
This training is usually undertaken as soon as a new employee is hired and is something that needs to be constantly updated and retaught throughout the years.
It’s also a good idea to have a look into company life insurance and how that could benefit you, your employees and their families when setting up a business.
Have a Strict Incident Reporting Procedure
This is one the most important parts of safety policy. If you have no data on risks or accidents, you won’t be able to keep an eye on the amount of accidents taking place. In turn, you have no way of knowing when it may be necessary to improve safety measures, thus putting everyone in danger and being noncompliant with safety regulations.
As well as having a strict incident reporting procedure, make sure that you take the time to investigate all incidents that take place. The purpose of this is to ensure that the environment is as safe as possible, not to work out who to blame etc.
Hopefully now you have a better idea of the types of safety measures that every entrepreneur must consider when setting up a business and you feel more confident in starting up your own. With these things in mind, you can ensure that you have all the starting points needed to do your research and ensure compliance to safety regulations.
