How can workplace safety be maintained?

Some particularly high-risk industries, such as those where workers are exposed to chemical hazards demanding the use of personal protective equipment, extreme temperatures that can risk employee health and safety, or environments with particularly dangerous working conditions where safety measures are needed to mitigate the likelihood of workplace accidents.  

Applicable businesses must have specific requirements to protect workers from dangers that are unique to the industry. It’s vital that employers stay up to date on requirements for employee safety, including responsibilities such as devising safety initiatives or a safety program, managing workplace stress or wellbeing, regular safety training for unsafe conditions, and inspections to ensure appropriate safety practices are in place.

In this article, we detail our top tips for how businesses can create an effective safety culture to protect the health and welfare of employees in the workplace.

Tip #1 – Comply with all regulatory requirements on workplace

Employers must adapt their processes and operations to meet (or exceed) regulatory requirements for a safe workplace. 

A safe work environment is one that complies with all requirements under all applicable safety administrations. This seems like a simple concept but implementing this can be quite complex, as businesses must navigate varying regulations across multiple jurisdictions.

For instance, if your company has operations, facilities, or sites in California, Paris and London, then you must track all of the safety regulations that pertain to your company in each jurisdiction — this means tracking safety requirements for the state of California and US Federal, the province where Paris is based and Federal France, and the county that includes London and the UK on a Federal level. If one of the companies where you operate is part of the European Union (EU) then you must also track and comply with EU regulations.

The world of requirements is vast, and it can be hard to know which ones apply to your company and which don’t. Many companies struggle to keep track of the legislation impacting their operations, much less the global landscape, which continues to evolve in line with stakeholder demands, consumer expectations, and further conversations surrounding employee safety and safety management.

Additionally, even if companies have the dedicated resources available to identify and track occupational safety regulations, they aren’t always able to interpret or analyze the requirements to gain a cohesive understanding of what, in real-life applicability, must be done to comply with them.

This is where regulatory intelligence solutions, such as EHS Intelligence’s Compliance Intelligence tool comes into play.

Tip #2 — Prioritize worker safety and employee health

Employee well-being is gaining more appreciation in the modern workplace as businesses are now not only being scrutinized on the safety of their work environment, but also employee satisfaction, health and welfare, and employee morale. As new generations emerge into the workforce (five currently!), they value overall employee well-being that goes beyond keeping employees safe from workplace dangers.

A safe workplace can encapsulate many things:

• Effective and reliable safety training to alleviate safety concerns, such as electrical safety and fire safety 

• Safety protocols, like an emergency preparedness plan, to mitigate or avoid workplace accidents 

• A harmonized safety policy to ensure that working conditions remain compliant with workplace safety standards 

The main objective behind having these safety standards in place is to avoid an employee suffering from a workplace injury (protecting from physical harm) and ensuring workers feel safe, happy, and comfortable in their working environment (protecting mental health).

Employers that pause to think about possible risks to an employee before deciding how to implement safety procedures are better positioned to address worker safety than ones that accept the status quo.

For example, if an employee is working in a warehouse, the employer should take a step back and consider whether:

• Items could fall on the employee from above
• The employee could slip on the floor if a product leaks
• The employee would need to be lifted to higher shelves to retrieve warehouse contents (and if so, whether the employee could fall)
• The employee would need to operate heavy equipment or machines
• The employee would be exposed to potentially harmful substances that could result in health complications, such as respiratory difficulties or burns

Each of these considerations may come with a corresponding regulatory requirement. The more thoughtful the employer is, the safer the employees are. Employers should be proactive in anticipating dangers.

Even if a danger isn’t obvious, if it’s possible, then the safest workplaces will implement precautionary safety rules to ensure employee safety.

A safe workplace boosts employee morale, as well as fostering a positive perspective of the business.

Tip #3 — Adapt safety management with present challenges

Times change and unpredictable events require employers to be flexible with their safety programs. The emergence of new technology in the occupational health and safety space may lead businesses to revise their occupational safety policies to ensure workplace safety can still be maintained.

Now, many employees are required to wear safety equipment, such as masks, to prevent a workplace incident. Other personal protective equipment like gloves and resistant clothing is also mandated by regulatory authorities to ensure employees are kept safe.

Furthermore, many jurisdictions have laws that include safety inspections by third-parties to confirm if current safety measures are compliant, if employers are mandating regular safety training for all employees, and overall employee safety and satisfaction.

If there’s new technology or equipment to acquire, then employers should have a budget that allows for emergency expenses. The safest environments are those that look at the tasks performed by employees and, when a change in circumstances occurs, invest in the best approach for protecting employees based on those specific tasks.

How can workplace safety be maintained?

These best practices aren’t exclusive. Depending upon the industry and jurisdiction in which an employer operates, there may be additional characteristics of the safest working environments.

But for businesses who want to both comply with jurisdictional regulations and demonstrate their dedication to employee safety and well-being, they need to: 

• Use a regulatory intelligence solution to identify, track, analyze, and interpret occupational health and safety and safety management requirements wherever you operate 

• Implement a robust, reliable, and adaptable safety program to protect employees 

• Have the resources and team to proactively respond to changing expectations and adapt existing safety measures where necessary 

Safety is an evolving area, so it’s always beneficial to stay connected with others in the field to improve overall safety in the workplace.