If you run a business, it is important for you to keep everyone safe.
Sure, as a small business leader, you probably have a lot of demands on your time. For example, you have to meet with business partners, spend time interviewing potential employees and review the performance of your current managers.
At the same time, you do need to think about the safety and security of your business.
In addition to keeping your current employees and customers safe from harm, you also want to reduce the regulatory risk that you otherwise experience. Therefore, what are the most common reasons why businesses get cited for safety violations?
Inadequate Machine Guarding Measures
First, you have to make sure that all of your heavy equipment is appropriately protected.
When your equipment is not in use, where do you store it? Is it stored in a safe location? Or, is it left out somewhere where someone can access it.
Think about it. You probably spend a lot of time training your employees to make sure they can use this equipment properly.
At the same time, what happens if someone who is not trained to use this equipment accesses it?
You need to make sure this does not happen. For this reason, make sure that you follow all relevant machine guarding regulations. This will help you keep everyone safe from harm in addition to preventing fines and sanctions.
Issues Regarding Respiratory Protection
Next, you also have to make sure that everyone has adequate respiratory protection.
There are two different types of respiratory protection you need to consider. First, make sure that any equipment that you use that is emitting noxious fumes or gases is vented appropriately.
Make sure that all of your air filters are working properly so that there is clean air flowing through your building. Then, if any of your employees are working in an area where they require respiratory protection, make sure they have access to it.
You also need to make sure that you understand what type of respiratory protection they need depending on the activity they are performing.
Problems with the Control of Hazardous Energy
There are a lot of different types of hazardous energy that you might be using as a part of your business.
For example, electricity is the most common type of hazardous energy. You do not want your employees to end up getting electrocuted.
You might also be working with water power, airpower, or even nuclear energy. You need to have appropriate measures in place to make sure that you control this energy appropriately.
This includes lockout tagout devices and procedures, which are important for ensuring that machines are adequately powered off when they are done for the day.
If you need assistance with lockout tagout devices, you may want to consider a few ancillary pieces of equipment, such as aluminum hasps or aluma-tag hasps.
When you take the time to ensure the safety of your heavy equipment, you keep yourself, your employees, and your customers safe from harm.
These are just a few of the most common safety violations that small businesses might get cited for. You need to make sure that your business does not get cited for these violations.
Understand the current rules and regulations as they relate to your industry. Then, institute a few practices and procedures to keep everyone in the building safe from harm. Not only will this prevent unnecessary injuries, but it will be good for business as well.