Occupational health and safety in the workplace is an important topic. Reducing absence by managing these things is rightly a priority in all kinds of organisations. What are some steps that can be taken to improve health and safety at work?
Promote health
Prevention is always better than cure. Employer driven initiatives have been shown to have had a positive impact on worker’s health, with the reduction of illness and absenteeism that goes along with that. Examples of the kind of thing that has worked are subsidised gym memberships.
There are all kinds of perks that it is possible to offer employees that can nudge them into having a healthier lifestyle. As the old saying goes ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor way’ providing healthy fruit to snack on can work, especially if vending machines containing sweets and crisps are removed.
Health screening programmes can be brought into the workplace. Giving employees a chance to be screened for medical issues such as blood pressure and cholesterol means that problems can be detected early and headed off before they get too serious, whereas they might have otherwise gone unnoticed.
Ergonomics has a big part to play in how likely workers are to develop certain conditions. Carpal tunnel and repetitive strain injury can set in if people spend a lot of time using keyboards and mice for instance. Better equipment along with education on how to use these devices can help reduce the risk.
Assess risk
Every workplace has its own set of potential hazards. Having a thorough investigation as to what these are is essential if accidents are to be avoided. Being able to identify most of the possible causes of accident s is no easy task.
Once the current level of risk has been assessed the task is to find ways to reduce it. A balance must be struck here. Risk is inherent in life, and it can never be fully eliminated. It is important that the response to the risk is proportionate to the level of risk.
The risk assessment is not something that should be attempted by an untrained person. Either a properly trained outside consultant should be brought in, or somebody internal to the company should be trained. In many ways it can often be preferable. A person who has knowledge of the workplace, the work and the culture will be much better able to spot and reduce risk.
Often the ideal solution to making sure that somebody has the skills needed to implement a good strategy for occupational health and workplace safety can be by getting somebody properly certified after some NEBOSH training.