Friday 31 December 2010

New Year - Resolutions?

We are moving into (yet another) New Year.

Many people make resolutions to change - their lifestyle, attitude, eating habits, etc. Do businesses? Do the people who run businesses?

This year, why not make a resolution to "do safety better". I do not mean to spend unnecessary sums of money or to carry out unnecessary training or risk assessments. I mean "to think about safety and make some simple, low cost changes for the better".

Some simple starters?

Housekeeping standards - about a third of workplace accidents result from slips, trips and falls and about half of these result from poor housekeeping.

Fire Safety - Check exit routes, check emergency lighting, check the fire alarm, do a fire drill, update your fire safety risk assessment, etc

Vehicle movements - review the separation between people and vehicles - people come off really badly when it goes wrong!

Focus - as with all areas that are important to your business, focus your efforts onto those things that will make a big difference for a low cost and for minimal effort. Housekeeping is a nice, easy big hit. It costs little and can reduce the instances of slips, trips and falls and it can reduce the likelihood of a fire.

Records - consider which records are most important to the management of health and safety and make it ease to keep these up to date.

Get involved - walk round the premises and view the operation regularly. Put right those things that do not look right on the walk round or, even better, get those people who should already have addressed these issues to put them right! Truly management by walking about.

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