If you’re an organization, manager, or employer researching how to address safety issues at work, you’ve come to the right place. Whether it’s physical safety, employee health, or mental health issues, risk assessment and management play a significant role in managing your employees’ ability to work and stay working.

The Pillars of How to Address Safety Issues at Work 

When focusing on how to address safety issues at work, there are a few things you can do. Safety is essential to keep your workforce healthy, and having sufficient safety measures in place can increase peace of mind among your employees.

Provide Quality Benefits Packages

You want your employees to be cared for. Therefore, before shoring up any potential safety issues in the workplace, you must invest in a competitive benefits package for your employees. This package should include quality health insurance to ensure that if anything were to happen at the workplace or otherwise, your employees are sufficiently cared for. 

A competitive benefits package grants you more than your employees’ health and safety. Offering a package that competes with the job market can improve your recruitment and increase employee retention. Read our whitepaper to learn more about the importance of a competitive benefits package.

Outsource Your Human Resources Operations

Providing comprehensive human resources services to your organization can be challenging to do from the inside. Juggling onboarding, payroll administration, training, and many other administrative tasks can leave you with insufficient time to tackle the workplace safety issues that may be plaguing your business. To avoid this, consider outsourcing these duties to Canal HR. Canal HR is an organization dedicated to providing you with the most effective human resources services possible so you have more time to develop your business. 

Assess Risk

One of the first things you should do when looking at how to address safety issues at work is to assess the risk your current work environment poses to your employees. For example, what equipment are they using? Do your workers handle any hazardous materials? Are there any current health risks posed to your employees from biological or environmental factors? Taking inventory of the potential risks posed to your workers is a practical starting point to address the workplace safety issues that may be latent within your organization.

In addition to taking stock of the potential risks associated with your workplace, you should also be aware of latent risks within your employees. For example, do you have immuno-compromised employees? Do you have any employees whose health dictates tasks? Remaining aware of your employees and their needs will help you delegate tasks accordingly, reducing risks associated with a worker being unfit for a specific job.

Staff Adequately

Overexertion is one of the leading causes of workplace injury or accident. If you’re interested in how to address safety issues at work, you may want to start by ensuring that you have the staff necessary to prevent your workers from ever needing to brush against overworking themselves. Your employees need proper time for breaks and meals, and your workplace equipment must be operated effectively. Insufficient staffing can cause these pillars of your workplace to deteriorate and may lead your workers to put themselves at risk from overexertion. 

If you’re having issues recruiting or retaining the right people,  look internally at your hiring and retention practices. Decreasing employee turnover is a multi-faceted process requiring you to evaluate all areas of your organization carefully. Read our whitepaper, “Decreasing Employee Attrition: How to Retain Good Employees,” for more advice on the subject.

Provide Proper Training

Properly training your staff is one of the most effective ways to prevent workplace injury. According to the CDC, one of the leading causes of workplace injury- next to overexertion- stems from equipment contact. Providing proper training to your employees can combat this. While it seems pretty evident that you train your employees, you must invest the time and resources necessary to provide them with the all-encompassing training required to effectively and safely operate any equipment from day one. It can be tempting to rush employees out of their training to try and keep up with any staffing or staffing issues you may have, but this will likely only create more problems for your organization in the long run. 

Address Workplace Safety With Canal HR

Canal HR is a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) that has served the United States southeastern region for three decades. Our industry professionals will help your organization with payroll administration, risk management, workers’ compensation, and more. Whether you need help addressing workplace safety, managing workplace injury after the fact, or simply administering payroll, Canal HR is here to help. Contact us today or visit our website to learn more about how Canal HR can help your organization.