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Keeping The Workplace Healthy For All

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Healthy Workplace|Keeping The Workplace Healthy For AllOne of the things you always need to be aware of in your business is the importance of keeping the workplace as healthy as possible for all of your employees, contractors and visitors. Not only is this a legal factor to consider, it is also arguably a moral one that you have to think about too, so it’s definitely vital to make sure you don’t overlook it if you can at all help it. In this post, we are going to take a look at just some of the things you can do to ensure that you are keeping your workplace healthy for all.

Light & Air

Two of the most important things of all here are the light levels and the quality and flow of the air. As long as these are how they should be, you are going to find that you are much more likely to keep everyone happy and healthy. You can achieve plenty of light by including natural light as much as possible, for instance by making sure there are plenty of big windows. In terms of air quality, you’ll want to make sure you have some greenery around in the form of plants, and perhaps consider a water based mold release agent on the walls to help with mold. This is all going to keep everyone a lot healthier at work.

Space

Believe it or not, how much space there is can be another important consideration when it comes to keeping everyone healthy in the workplace. You need to make sure that everyone has enough space, or else it can be a lot easier to get very stressed, and that can cause a lot of problems if you are not careful about it. Too much space on the other hand, and the whole workplace can feel understaffed and that can be weirdly stressful too. You have to find the balance here as best as you can, otherwise people are going to suffer in these subtle but continual ways.

Cleanliness

Of course, you also need to make sure that the workplace is as clean as possible, and this is something that we are all acutely aware of the importance of right now, thanks to the global pandemic. You should aim to keep everything perfectly clean in order to stop the spread of viruses and bacteria which might cause diseases. A regular cleaning schedule including professional cleaning, with deep cleaning once in a while as well, is going to ensure that this is taken care of. You might also want to encourage staff to clean up as they go along. This makes a workplace healthier and also safer, meaning there is less of a chance for slips, trips and falls too.

Those are just some of the things you might want to do in order to keep your workplace as healthy as possible. As long as you have done these things, that should be a lot easier to be sure of, and your people are going to appreciate it.

How To Successfully Implement A Warehouse Maintenance Plan

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A maintenance plan is a well-thought-out and researched schedule for ensuring your warehouse’s safe and efficient operation. Good practices combined with preventative maintenance can save you time, money, and headaches down the line.

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |Warehouse Maintenance Plan|How To Successfully Implement A Warehouse Maintenance Plan

What do you want to achieve?

To begin with, establish what type of business you are running and know which areas you want to concentrate on first. Are you just looking to make your workplace a little safer, or do you have a project that will require a significant investment? Your first step should be to determine what will give you the greatest return on your investment.

Determine areas of priority

Once you’ve done that, it’s time to look at each area and prioritize them. Which areas are most important for the safety and efficiency of your employees? Once you’ve determined that, it’s time to look at the critical areas for keeping things running smoothly. Finally, prioritize by cost. This last step will help you determine which projects are worth implementing first.

What resources do you need?

After you have all of these lists prioritized, please take a closer look at them and identify what you’re going to need to get the job done. It would help if you had a good idea of what you can do yourself and what you will need help with, whether from employees or contractors. Remember, if something isn’t on your list, but it’s an emergency, don’t hesitate to call in some reinforcements.

Once you have all of your resources listed and have identified who you’re going to need, start looking for the necessary equipment. Then, look into any training required or recommended for completing a particular area of maintenance – especially if it’s in a high-risk zone in the warehouse or critical equipment like the crown pallet jack. Remember, this is preventative maintenance, so you want to make sure all of your employees are prepared to do their part.

Implement your plan

Once it’s time for implementation, get everyone involved and work together. That means managers, supervisors, technicians, contractors – anyone who will work on the equipment or participate in ongoing training. Make sure you have a post-maintenance meeting to review what went well and what needs improvement.

Review the outcome

Now that the maintenance plan has been implemented, it’s time to look at some statistics. If this is your first maintenance plan or it’s been a while since your last one, use the metrics from your company as benchmarks for evaluating areas of improvement. This is important to know what areas need more attention and where you can cut costs in the future.

Continuous improvement

You may find that your maintenance plan wasn’t as successful as stated above or that it did not work, which means it’s time for a new one. These guidelines are just a basic outline of successfully implementing a maintenance plan and what steps you should take for the best outcome.

The most important thing is to make sure your employees are involved; everyone knows their roles and that the maintenance plan is working for your facility!

Monthly Office Checks Your Business Should Run

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Office Checks|Monthly Office Checks Your Business Should RunWhen it comes to creating a safe and positive working environment, you’re always going to need to stay ahead of the curve. You need to be able to anticipate potential hazards within your workspace, and eliminate them wherever possible to keep your team producing the great work they do day in and day out.

But how can you be sure the office is a good place to be? Well, as long as you’re running monthly checks to ensure health and safety is top priority, you’ll be well on your way to crafting an unproblematic workplace. Here are the kind of checks you should be running.

Fire Safety

Fires are the most common hazard in the modern workplace, next to tripping and falling. And in a commercial setting, a fire can happen in a dozen different places at once! From equipment overheating, to someone taking a smoke break in the wrong place, to an electrical fire in the server room, you’ve got your work cut out for you checking here.

You’re going to want to keep multiple fire extinguishers on site at all times, as well as check them as regularly as you perform maintenance on office equipment. Similarly, make sure all potential fuel sources (including waste paper baskets!) are disposed of in a timely and safe manner.

Air Quality

A lot of toxins can leak into the air in a commercial setting; from dust to foreign particles to actual harmful gasses, there are a lot more hazards in the modern workplace than there’s ever been before! And if you’re going to be spending at least 8 hours a day in your office, you owe it to your team’s health to check on the air quality on a monthly basis.

Most of all, keep an eye on your AC or central heating function. A lot can leak through these two systems, and making sure you know the warning signs before a gas accumulates to a hazardous degree is essential. You can read more about keeping your air pure in a workplace setting, but it’s mostly simple care and maintenance; make sure those AC vents have been washed out by a cleaning team!

Mental Health Assurance

You’re also going to want to think about the human element, in terms of health and safety, as most inspection criterias now include mental health and wellbeing as part of the pass rate. And not only that, but if you can’t be sure that your employees even enjoy being in the workplace, how can you ensure they’ll do their best work?

You need to keep work exciting and/or challenging within your office, as well as define the job expectations as clearly as possible. You’ll also want to keep work hours as flexible as possible, and never expect an employee to stay beyond the average 8 hour working period. It’s just good practice this way!

Your office needs checking out; keep health and safety in mind for a much more productive workday.

How to Create a Healthy Workplace for Your Employees

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Healthy Workplace|How to Create a Healthy Workplace for Your EmployeesWith Coronavirus dominating news headlines across the world and people everywhere impacted by the global pandemic, it is little wonder that health is a subject at the forefront of many people’s minds right now.

If you manage a workforce, it is imperative to focus on protecting your employees from the threat of the virus and other health risks. Protecting the health of your employees is essential for many reasons. Firstly, from an ethical standpoint, you should be concerned about the health and safety of staff in your workplace. Secondly, having employees off sick can cost your business heavily, especially if you provide sick pay. Lastly, productivity will be severely affected by staff absenteeism; this puts additional pressure on your remaining employees to cover the workload. With this in mind, here is how you can ensure that your workplace is a healthy environment for your employees:

Keep it Clean

Having a clean workplace is essential to keep it looking good and protect your staff’s health. In a busy workspace, germs can travel fast. It does not take long for viruses to spread between employees, especially if they touch the same surfaces or are unable to socially distance. To minimize the risk of infection, you will need to keep your work environment as clean and hygienic as possible. This can be achieved using industrial cleaning services with the skills and experience necessary to clean industrial workspaces such as yours thoroughly. Stringent cleaning should help to mitigate the risk of viruses traveling between staff and allow everyone to stay healthy at work.

Improve Air Quality

Air quality plays a vital role in creating a healthy workplace. The impact of low air quality at work can be surprising, as it can affect your employees in more ways than you might think. Low indoor air quality can cause a range of problems for the occupants of the building. Depending on the cause of the low indoor air quality, symptoms could include allergic responses such as a sore, irritated throat, through to fatigue, headaches, and even cancer.

Monitoring the air quality in your building is essential to ensure that it is a healthy place for your employees to work. Regular cleaning can help to prevent allergies caused by dust mites. Scheduling regular maintenance of your building’s ventilation will play a significant role in keeping the air quality high. You should frequently maintain your air conditioning filters along with the air ducts, as this can significantly improve air quality.

Increase Safety Awareness

Workplace health and safety are serious issues. Safety is a subject that all business owners need to take seriously. Without appropriate health and safety precautions, employees’ risk of becoming injured at work is high. To prevent safety issues at work it is crucial that you provide your team with health and safety training regularly, and supply the equipment that they need to perform their job in the safest way possible.

Addressing each of these areas should help to create a healthy workplace for your employees.

3 of the Most Common Legal Issues Still Suffered by Businesses

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Legal Issues|3 of the Most Common Legal Issues Still Suffered by BusinessesRunning a business with employees, especially one with premises automatically grants you a duty of care to your staff. As an employer, you expect a certain level of professionalism from all of your staff members as much as they expect it from you and for their safety to be in your best interests.

But even the best employers and businesses run into legal issues from time to time, whether right or wrong, and even in 2021 businesses still face some of the same legal issues that have been around for a long time:

  • IP Theft
  • Health and Safety Issues
  • Discrimination or Harassment

Many businesses, especially successful ones, are often accused of stealing something from another entity such as a logo, a product idea, or even a name while employees claiming accidents at work have never been higher. Discrimination and harassment is still an issue for employers and great care should be taken to protect everyone involved.

Know Your Property

A developed piece of material work such as a patent, trademark, copyrighted work, or even a trade secret such as a manufacturing process (think Coca Cola) is known as intellectual property. That is a property that isn’t grounded in the physical world such as a car or a house but one that has been creatively generated.

Claims concerning IP happen all the time and many bigger cases include those against songwriters, patent holders, and manufacturers. Pop superstar Madonna famously lost a case against a Belgian songwriter over her hit song ‘Frozen’ while Nintendo narrowly won a case over a patent concerning how a user input device (controller) handles shared data streams.

You can initially protect your IP by identifying it, securing it, and labeling it as such with the use of official company logos, which are themselves IP. But the range of issues concerning IP is very broad and is governed by a complex set of rules so the best advice would be to contact a business law attorney should you find yourself worried about infringement or if a claim has been made against you.

Duty of Care

Business establishments of all kinds are deemed reasonably responsible for the wellbeing of everyone directly associated with them. You may have heard of people claiming accidents at work because of negligent safety measures and receiving large payouts. This happens all the time and for the most part, these could have been avoided.

Protection from claims of this nature is essential to a business as while some may be genuine, there is a culture of falsely claiming injury towards organizations which has led to some businesses becoming overly cautious, such as McDonald’s and their rigorous labeling of hot products. The cost of a successful claim against you could potentially run into hundreds of thousands of dollars, which for most companies would be unsustainable and could lead to loss of jobs, decreased productivity, or closure.

The best thing to secure against these kinds of claims is to actually develop strict health and safety procedures. Ensure all your staff are fitted with any safety gear they need and have been trained to use them, label and mark safety concerned areas of a building, and reasonably discipline staff members who don’t follow safety guidelines. Do all that you can do to adequately profess that any claim against your health and safety standards is due to the claimant and not yourself.

Everyone is Equal

The last few years have seen very high profile cases against celebrities such as Harvey Weinstein but what of claims of discrimination or harassment against companies. Well, it does happen. Recently, Viacom, the parent company of CBS, has had to suspend two executives over claims that they created a hostile work environment for women and people of color.
It boggles the mind to think that this kind of behavior still happens in this day and age, especially from grown and professional men, but the sad fact is that year on year, the US Equal Employment Opportunites Commission (EEOC) hears over 100,000 cases of discrimination in the workplace.

It would be a very sad day indeed for any business owner to hear that staff members are being discriminated against, for any reason, so you should go out of your way to educate all staff about issues of discrimination whether it’s racial, gender, religion or disability related. Proactively enforcing a “Not Safe for Work” campaign can help since everyone is going to have different beliefs and conflicting personalities, but they should be left at home and aren’t welcome in the workplace.