Health & Safety Advice For Factory Employers

Health and safety is incredibly important in any line of work, but particularly for high risk workplaces like factories and warehouses. As an employer, it is your legal responsibility to provide a safe working environment for your team and to have practices in place that will prevent accidents and injuries from occurring in what can be dangerous work. So, how can you go about improving health and safety?

Risk Assessment

First, you should get a risk assessment carried out by a specialist. This will highlight the potential hazards in the workplace so that you can then focus on these areas by either removing the hazard or finding ways to mitigate the damage that it could cause.

Training

Accidents in factories often occur because staff have not had adequate training in their role. You need to train each employee in how they can carry out their role safely and to discuss with them the hazards of the job and how they can be avoided. Additionally, this training should be refreshed from time to time and always given if there is a new task for them to carry out, new equipment that they need to use or anything else that could lead to an accident.

Correct Equipment

You also need to provide the correct equipment for staff to carry out their role safely and effectively. This will include personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff and visitors, which could include items like hardhats, goggles, gloves and masks. You need to make sure that staff have easy access to this equipment and that you have rules to make sure that it is worn at all times. Having posters up around the workplace works as a gentle reminder to staff to wear their PPE when conducting their work.

Understand the Risks

Both management and employees should be aware of what the main threats are and understand the risks. In addition to educating people on the hazards, you can also keep the message fresh in people’s minds with posters and signs around the factory. Accidents often occur when people lose focus, so keeping health and safety at the forefront of people’s minds is important.

Have Safety Measures in Place

Finally, you need to have safety measures in place in case there is an accident. There should be fire routes and a fire safety plan as well as staff that are trained in first aid (as well as a fully stocked first aid kit nearby). This will all ensure that if there is an incident then you and your team can act swiftly to reduce its severity.

Workplaces should also have a comprehensive reporting system in place where staff can report on potential hazards.

This post should help you to identify the key areas to focus on to improve health and safety in your factory. Factories can be hazardous work environments and there are many accidents that occur in factories each year, so you need to make health and safety a priority so that you can protect both your employees and your business.