Operating a small business is a lot harder than many people think and they are working on much smaller budgets than their much larger counterparts. There are a lot of many different rules and regulations that have to be followed when conducting business and one of the most important things to follow are the health and safety rules currently in place.
It is fair to say that smaller businesses are concentrating on other things like building upon their current customer base and of course creating profits. When we look at the statistics, the most common areas where small businesses fail in their health and safety actions is not displaying the health and safety act in the workplace, not taking precautions to protect their workers and not having a health and safety policy in place.
Statistics tell us that the vast majority of businesses are small and this is defined by the number of employees that work in these places, which is usually less than 100 employees. This does account for a big number of people that are employed by these smaller businesses and so they need to find consultants specialising on small business health and safety support to assist when necessary. It is important to note that businesses which are smaller don’t have the same access to health and safety resources that much larger organisations would have.
The following are some of the health and safety concerns that smaller businesses should be aware of.
- Part Of Your Everyday Operations – As an employer, you want both your employees and your clients to know and understand that you are trying to run a safer workplace and it is at the top of your list of priorities. No small business wants to be experiencing any workplace injuries or fatalities for that matter, and so this is why it is essential that you make health and safety a priority.
- Safe Operating Procedures – Many small businesses do not start every working day or shift with some kind of safety talk that will raise awareness of any health and safety hazards that are currently in the workplace. It is important that you and your staff are able to access materials regarding health and safety, and that everyone works together as a team to create a safe working environment for everyone. Part of that is being able to communicate together.
- Identifying Hazards – Everyone knows that your staff is your key asset and so you should always be encouraging your frontline workers to bring to your attention any safety hazards that they deal with on a daily basis. You should also be encouraging staff members to volunteer as the health and safety go-to person. You should be providing them with the skills that they need to train new workers that join your company.
You will find that health and safety awareness training is mandatory in many countries and you as an employer have a legal duty to educate your staff. Some business owners believe that health and safety laws do not apply to them, but this is not the case and so you should be doing everything that you can to ensure that your small business meets the legislative compliance.