For various reasons you need to be absolutely 100% on top of your health and safety policy and even more so when there are members of the public around. What can you do and what should you do to protect your customers, visitors and general members of the public. Here we look at some of the main ways we can stay on top of this.
Keep Customers Away From Hazardous Areas
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If your business has areas that are hazardous or unsafe for any reason then you are responsible for making sure the public doesn’t come into contact with these areas. Any store areas should be inaccessible and only relevant persons have access to the area, there is a lot of regulation and rules in this area and you should be familiar with this in detail but general points are containment and storage, protective equipment that should be used and you should have a plan for when things go wrong.
Ensure Staff Are Health & Safety Trained
Health and safety, in general, are very important. This can cover many areas from a regular assessment of property, safety procedures and staff clothing and other PPE equipment. You should ensure for each area there is a qualified first aider and a fully stocked first aid kit.
Be Aware Of All Relevant Legislation
You don’t want to be on the end of a lawsuit because of lax practice putting your customers at risk. It’s important to do proper research and risk assessment for any product or service you offer or you could be at risk of litigation against you which could cost you astronomical amounts of money including legal fees etc. Take this example of the breast implant lawsuit being prepared against the company Allergan for faulty and dangerous breast implants that are allegedly causing cancer. This kind of action can be terminal for a company.
Go Further Where Possible
You should be making sure you consider health and safety in every decision even if it’s not completely apparent, take what you think of when decorating the office? You think of colors, furniture, etc, even decorations for holidays, take this example we have of fall decorations, but has the office manager here thought about the impact of open flames or ceramic pots in an office environment? Maybe not, but it doesn’t mean you can’t do these things but perhaps make some subtle changes, plastic pots instead of ceramic or electric candles rather than naked flames.
Make Sure Signage Is In Place Where Necessary
It is important to ensure that prominent and effective safety signage is in place in all locations where necessary. This includes safety sheets, directions, including emergency signs. These can be critical in the event of an emergency and even key in preventing one. Think about how critical it can be to know if an area houses hazardous materials or the location of fire extinguishers, alarms or exits are.
