HR Department
  • Home
  • Did you Know?
  • Our Services
    • NEW: Mediation
    • HR Audit
    • Implementation
    • HR Support Service
    • HR Services
  • Our Experts
  • Testimonials
  • The HR Advisor
  • Contact Us
  • Login

Ensure The Office Is A Safe and Secure Environment for Employees

18/5/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture







​

​As an employer, you have the responsibility to look after your employees and ensure they are safe and secure in the workplace. Along with ensuring the health and safety of your employees, it’s important to look after any visitors in your office, such as suppliers and clients. The health hazards are higher in some industries than others, but it’s important that you are aware of the regulations that apply to your own industry.
 

Create a Policy
Businesses come in all shapes and sizes, however if you employ five or more people, you must keep a record of all assessment results and a health and safety policy. As an employer you must ensure safe working practices are set up, that all materials are stored and safely used, provide first aid facilities and ensure that all potential dangers are sorted as soon as possible. Start by assessing potential dangers in your office, ensuring that all lighting and safety equipment is working.

After a thorough assessment of the office, create a policy and hold a meeting with all staff. In the meeting, talk through the policy with your staff in specific detail and make sure to answer any questions they may have. Emphasise the importance of being aware of all health and safety procedures for all employees, each workplace will have its own risks depending on the type of work. Organise training for all your employees, including first aid and what to do in the case of a fire. Don’t only rely on management and supervisors for identifying workplace risks, but communicate directly with your workers as they are the ones who experience day to day life in the workplace.  

Act Quickly with Workplace Violence
Workplace violence comes in two forms, physical or verbal. Physical includes pushing, punching, kicking or in extreme cases attacks, whereas verbal abuse is swearing, shouting and rude gestures.  
If there are certain employees who seem like they are a potential risk to other employees, act on this immediately and carry out a background check. Ensure that employees can speak to you quickly if a problem arises, make sure there are always a couple of workers in the office at one time and keep employees trained up with the health, safety and security procedures. If violence does occur, make sure the victim is not left alone after the incident occurs and provide the victim and any witnesses with counselling. Train staff in what to do following an act of violence and encourage them to support the victim and witnesses.
​
Have Monthly Discussions
Aim to create an environment that has open communication within the workforce, reinforce your zero-tolerance policy for violence, allowing employees to express their opinions and feelings. This can be achieved by organising a monthly meeting to discuss the health and safety policy in your company. Hearing what employees have to say will help you notice any hazards or inappropriate behaviour that you weren’t aware of. Your staff will appreciate your efforts to maintain a safe and positive office, which will increase their overall working productivity.  

Install Security Measures
Hiring security guards or installing security cameras will give your offices an extra sense of safety. Install cameras around the office and any remote areas surrounding the workplace, especially if you have workers who often walk home alone.

Establishing a safe working environment is a win-win situation for you and your employees. You will make your team happy coming to work everyday, which keeps them motivated, but it also protects you from any serious consequences that might happen when an employer doesn’t take responsibility for the safety of their staff.

For more helpful HR tips and advice, CLICK HERE to sign up to our newsletter..

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014

    Categories

    All
    Absenteeism
    Agile Management
    Anger
    Annual Leave
    Appointments
    Big Data
    Bullying
    Bullying In The Workplace
    Business
    BYOD
    Collaboration
    Communication
    Company Culture
    Compulsory Retirement
    Conflict Resolution
    Corporate Culture
    Covid 19
    Covid-19
    Cyber Bullying
    Data Protection
    Device Policy
    Digital
    Digital Transformation
    Disciplinary Procedures
    Discrimination
    Diversity
    Dress Code
    Emotional Intelligence
    Employee Benefits
    Employee Diversity
    Employee Engagement
    Employee Performance
    Employee Relations
    Employee Resignation
    Employee Retention
    Employee Rights
    Employee Wellbeing
    Employer Branding
    Employment Contract
    Equality
    Flexible Working Hours
    Freelance
    Freelancer Management
    Freelancing
    Gender
    Gig Economy
    Health And Safety
    Hiring Process
    HR
    HR Automation
    HRLocker
    HR Paper Work
    HR Performance
    HR Tips
    Human Resources
    Incentives
    Inclusion
    Independent Contractor
    In-house
    Innovation
    Intelectual Property
    Intern
    Jargon
    Just Culture
    L&D
    Leadership
    Learning & Development
    Long Term Illness
    Management
    Managers
    McDonalds
    Mediation
    Mentorship
    Millenials
    Motivating Staff
    Music
    Negative Employees
    Office Romance
    Onboarding
    Outsourced HR
    Paid Paternity Benefit
    Parental Leave
    Parenting
    Part Time
    Part-time
    Passive-aggressive
    Paternity Leave
    Paternity Leave Policy
    Pay Gap
    Pensions
    People Operations
    Poaching Employees
    Policy
    Problem Employee
    Productivity
    Profit
    Protected Disclosures Act
    Recruitment
    Redundancy
    Retirement
    Role Of HR
    Salary Transparency
    Sexual Harrassment
    Sick Leave
    Sick Pay
    Sick Policy
    Skills
    Skills Shortage
    Social Media
    Social Media Policy
    Staff Burnout
    Staff Engagement
    Staff Retention
    Staff Training
    Strategy
    Success
    Talent
    Talent Acquisition
    Talent Retention
    Team
    Teamwork
    Tech In HR
    The Jungle Book
    Training
    Trust
    Unfair Dismissal
    Vacation
    Whistleblower
    Work Arrangements
    Working Parents
    Workplace
    Workplace Bullying
    Workplace BYOD Policy
    Workplace Conflict
    Workplace Discrimination
    Workplace Harassment
    Workplace Health
    Work Related Stress
    Zero Hour Contract

    RSS Feed

HR Department, 49 Hollybank Avenue, Lower Ranelagh, Dublin 6, Ireland.
 
Phone : +353 (0)1 685 2360 Fax: +353 (0)1 685 2532 E-mail: info@thehrdepartment.ie

Registered in Ireland under company number 348834

Testimonials

Fallon and Byrne

“As a medium –sized business, we could not justify having an in-house HR person. The HR department provided the perfect solution for us, giving us access to all of the expert advice we needed on an outsourced basis"

READ MORE!
Website by Chevron Studio