by OMS Admin

You know that you must comply with workplace health & safety, yet many business owners and SMEs find this challenging, while new businesses can feel overwhelmed and unsure where to begin. Business health & safety laws and regulations change frequently, so it can be difficult to stay on top of things. It can take a lot of time and hassle, and regulations and the law can be complex and hard to understand.

The risks of not following the correct practices are too high to ignore. The consequences could include bad publicity, lawsuits, compensation, fines, prosecution, or even business closure.

So, how can you keep up to date with business health & safety for your industry or sector?

Guidelines & Regulations

To keep on top of business health & safety, we have five tips that any company can introduce:

  1. Visit the Health and Safety Executive website: On the HSE website, you will find business health & safety guidelines, broken down into sections that make the regulations easier to digest. You will find the basics for your business, details on conducting risk assessments, how to manage incidents, guidance on moving hazardous substances, and site and equipment safety.
  1. Subscribe to industry podcasts and newsletter: Newsletters are great at informing you of what changes lie just around the corner. Podcasts with expert guests discuss issues, breakdown policies into specific topics, and you can listen to them on the fly or while you are completing other tasks.
  1. Regularly review your corporate health & safety policy: You should schedule regular annual reviews as well as review whenever your business undergoes major changes. These changes might be introducing new positions, workspace redesigns, and work procedure changes.
  1. Speak to your employees: Your employees are a great resource for understanding where you are and what issues your workforce is experiencing or concerned about. Your legal obligations also cover mental health, so this is something to keep in mind when you speak to your staff.
  1. Attend industry events: Face-to-face tradeshows and conferences may be off the cards for many due to the current epidemic, but webinars and virtual conferences can fill this gap and give you access to industry knowledge.

Health & Safety Equipment

Health and safety equipment includes the PPE your workforce wears and the equipment they use. Both play a crucial role in keeping your workers safe.

Certain pieces of equipment are vital for helping your workers avoid physical injury and follow safe working distancing rules to tackle COVID-19. Moving goods and picking parts using burden carriers, tow tractors, pedestrian platform trucks, and electric utility vehicles is an excellent way to tackle both aspects. One person can move larger loads without physical strain while simultaneously reducing the number of close contact instances with other workers.

To ensure you are following business health & safety to prevent the spread of viruses, you can limit the number of workers using shared equipment and introduce cleaning and disinfecting procedures of the equipment after each use.