What A Comprehensive Workplace Safety Plan Looks Like

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No matter the workplace, there is always a risk of accidents and injuries. As such, there is no workplace that doesn’t require a full safety policy. But what exactly goes into your policy? Here, we’re going to look at the major factors you need to include, as well as how to boil down the specifics.

A full risk assessment

There is no such thing as a one size fits all safety plan, even for businesses in the same industry. The differences in processes, equipment, and environment will each create new risks. As such, risk assessment specialists, Philips Innovation Services, recommend a risk inventory and evaluation to discover hazards and potential hazards in the workplace, which you can then plan to fix, mitigate, or eliminate entirely. Without a thorough assessment, your safety plan will never truly be comprehensive.

 

Signage and equipment availability

An essential part of any safety policy is instructions on how to appropriately use signs and hazard communications to make people aware of certain risks in the area that they’re in. Similarly, when risks are found during a risk assessment, there must also be personal protective equipment that employees can use to prevent injury. Lastly, a routine maintenance schedule for any industrial equipment in the workplace is essential.

 

Awareness of the regulations

Many of the specifics of your safety plan, how you carry it out and your written policy will be dictated not by your own risk assessments, but also by what OSHA regulations might apply to your business. Construction injury law specialists, Rosenfeld Law, indicate that many injuries in that industry are caused by OSHA violations such as inadequate fall protection, hazard communications, or use of vehicles. Such violations are likely to not only lead to accidents but also a legal liability that can be highly costly.

 

Controls to mitigate risks

A risk assessment and awareness of your regulations will help you understand what risks there are and what your obligations are when it comes to dealing with them. However, crisis response service providers, Rock Dove Solutions, also recommend putting in place controls to mitigate those risks. You need a response that monitors every risk and a means to reduce it, such as the mentioned routine maintenance for any industrial machines in the workplace.

 

Appropriate and recurring training

You are responsible for putting together a policy and plan to deal with the risks of the workplace, but every member of staff should be responsible for ensuring they contribute to making it safer. As such, the policy should include any instructions staff need to learn about how to do their work in the safest way possible. Workplace safety training courses can help them do that. You can also assign a member of staff to be your safety officer to be someone who is more directly responsible for ensuring the training and policy following as needed.

 

Depending on the workplace, industry, and company specifics, there are risks and measures you will need to look into more deeply. However, this guide should hopefully get you started on the path towards a much safer workplace.