Creating a safe work environment is about much more than abiding by the law. It’s your moral obligation to each employee to ensure that they have a place where they feel comfortable and accepted.
Without this, you risk losing employees left and right. Not to mention, there’s no telling how long it will take someone to get seriously injured if they do decide to stay on board.
It’s not enough to simply put safe practices in place and expect everything to be taken care of, though. You have to make safety training a priority in order to ensure that everyone is on the same page about industry regulations and specific company expectations.
Here are nine reasons why workplace safety training should be a top priority for your business.
1. It Creates a Safer Environment for All Employees
“Safety” means a lot of things in the workplace, and the most basic definition refers to physical safety. There should be no hazards in employee working areas or office walkways. This includes everything from fire hazards to things that people may trip on or accidentally cut themselves with.
Industry-specific hazards for those who work hard labor jobs or service roles need should be stressed, too. But, workplace safety goes way beyond all this.
You also have to consider things like diversity inclusion and sexual harassment training. These are the safety initiatives that truly make your work environment safer and more united. They make employees feel welcome as they are, helping to break down boundaries between team members and encourage a higher sense of understanding across the board.
2. It Empowers Employees in the Event That Something Happens
Although workplace safety training has a big focus on prevention, it also needs to provide employees with the appropriate action steps to take in the event of a safety incident. Action steps should be created for physical hazards – like a fire or a natural disaster – as well as for events that deal with diversity and sexual harassment.
Put simply, there should be no question in an employee’s mind about what to do when they feel their safety has been compromised. Whether they need to find the quickest fire exit to their desk or address a sexual harassment incident through the proper channels, they should be comfortable doing so thanks to the guidance provided by safety training.
3. It Improves Employee Satisfaction
When you address the wellbeing of your employees, what you’re really doing is telling them you care. Investing in workplace safety services like the ones provided by this company gives everyone a chance to learn about proper safety habits.
This significantly improves employee satisfaction because it makes employees feel valued and cared for. Such a message is not one that they will take lightly, and it’s something you should put a lot into. The more you stress how important your team’s safety is, the more they will connect to the company – which leads to better work habits and impressive results.
4. It Lowers the Amount of Productivity Loss Due to Injuries
Productivity rates tend to rise when people feel more connected to the work they’re doing and valued as an individual. But, all it takes is a few people calling out sick or one person to get injured to set back the entire team’s productivity levels.
This is just another reason why safety prevention efforts are so important. Creating a safe workplace for your team results in a lower risk of losing productivity.
When everyone is healthy and well, they show up to work and get the job done in an efficient manner. When they’re sick or injured, the quality of their work decreases, if they can even come into work at all.
5. It Saves Money on Injury Compensation
Less production leads to fewer earnings. It’s practically impossible to reach (or surpass) your sales goals when your employees aren’t able to perform their best due to health and safety issues.
But, you can lose even more money when you start paying for injury compensation. Compensation fees are often a few thousand dollars, if not more. Between insurance claims and paying for time off work due to an injury, you can end up putting a lot of money into an employee’s recovery.
This money serves you and your team much more value when it’s invested in safety prevention or other business initiatives like marketing and product development. Such opportunities aren’t as accessible to you if you have a stack of compensation checks to write, though.
6. It Protects Your Company from Injury Lawsuits
Sometimes, injury compensation is straightforward and by the book, and other times, it gets messy. The latter occurs when an employee decides to sue your business for a compensation claim.
They may do so in the event that a serious injury affects their quality of life or even if they think the compensation you have provided isn’t enough. Whatever the reason that an employee creates a lawsuit out of an injury, this is the last scenario you want to find yourself in. The best way to avoid this is to prevent safety issues from arising in the first place.
7. It Reinforces the Value of Workplace Safety
Keep in mind that workplace safety is something you should constantly strive to improve. If it’s been a few years since you revisited your policies, it may be time to change a few things. More so, regular safety workshops and training seminars can ensure that all your employees understand the safety initiatives you’ve put in place.
Frequent training stresses how important workplace safety is. It creates a higher sense of accountability between your employees and it makes them more likely to help each other out in the event that a safety concern arises, too.
8. It Identifies Gaps in Your Current Workplace Safety Policy
Speaking of revisiting your safety policies, consider the fact that your employees may understand safety concerns a little better than you do. These are the people who are on the floor day in and day out. They probably spend more time in meeting rooms and the office break area than you do, especially if you have multiple locations or tend to be out of the office for personal reasons.
You need to take a hands-on approach when improving workplace safety, and what better way to do that than to put revisions in the hands of your people?
Collaborating on new policies and initiatives ensures that no stone gets left unturned. It allows everyone in the business to address the safety concerns they deal with every day, which can broaden your understanding of workplace safety as a whole.
9. It Reduces Turnover
The final reason to go over your safety policies and procedures is to reduce turnover. Think about it: all it takes is one employee to get seriously injured for others to start getting concerned about their wellbeing. Safety concerns can also spread when workplace inclusion or sexual harassment issues arise.
These events can snowball into much bigger problems. Beyond the need to improve workplace safety, you may also find yourself looking for a lot of new hires to fill the positions of people who decide to leave.
This will cost you a significant amount of time and money.
Between the compensation you may have to give people for leaving, the investment needed to find new employees, and the training it will take to bring them on board, your budget can take a serious hit. Not to mention, the strength of your company culture and the quality of work that different departments produce will decrease, too.
It’s Time to Reap the Benefits of Workplace Safety Training
Here’s the best way to think about workplace safety training: it’s much better to stress the value of safety and maybe risk overdoing this than to ignore the safety concerns of your company.
You need to make sure that every person on your team feels safe as they perform their duties and welcome onto your team for the individual they are. This is essential to a healthy company culture and to a healthy workplace environment, too.
Even if you consider your office to be safe and welcoming, there are still plenty of benefits to enjoy from a bit of extra safety training. This doesn’t have to be complex or super in-depth, either. Just make sure you provide your people with the necessary resources they need to do their best work in the best working conditions.
For more tips and tricks on creating an environment in which your business can thrive, click here.
