Some people may feel as though profit and pleasing shareholders is the number one goal of their business. Some may find the need to innovate and earn a prestigious platform for their company within a select industry. Some might consider being at the top of the charts in the employee satisfaction index should be the height of potential for most firms.
However, while these interests are important, they are not the most important. The most important goal for your firm to repeatedly work towards is the continued safety of those who interface with it, no matter where, when or how. This means that taking an extremely close watch over all of your policy decisions and how they play out in consequence is essential for any new business leader to make a daily habit.
There are some priorities you can focus on to sustain your efforts here. They are as follows:
Construction & Development
As businesses develop, they will often try to expand their offices to a degree that makes the most sense. This might mean adding new R&D developments, extending the office space for new hires, or perhaps finally building a studio for the productions it has so far been outsourcing space for. No matter the reason for your construction efforts, you must keep in mind that this period of change will have an effect on your employees.
First of all you must consider the noise they are working in proximity to. Sustained loud noises can have a negative effect on the focus and hearing health of those trying to complete their tasks, and you for that matter. Without necessary gating, it’s also not impossible for a staff member to accidentally wander into the construction site without access rights and safety gear. Opening up your firm to this can also mean your building is exposed via a few routes, heightening the need to invest in extra security measures while this work takes place.
Perhaps it’s the simplest of safety hazards that you should be the most careful of. Implementing wireless fire alarms can help your construction site stay safe, preventing your staff and the work they complete from having to evacuate or become impeded by a careless cause of fire.
Staff
Without a great and exacting policy setup, you will struggle to communicate your health and safety requirements to your workers. This is why it can be essential to hire a dedicated staff member or team to the construction of your policy (most of which will be dictated by employment law,) but someone who will actually inspect your premises often to ensure that safety is always being kept in high regard. They staff members can help inform you of changes to the legislature that may affect the decisions you take going forward. They may also take care of the small inspections, such as informing work experience placements in the requirements of your firm, covering your back from a legal perspective, ensuring new methods for keeping staff fit and healthy, and preaching fire codes at all times.
Safety is not something that should ever be taken for granted. With a little care and investment, dedicated eyes looking out for this consideration can help prevent you ever placing a foot wrong, giving your business room to manoeuvre unimpeded.
Customers
Extreme testing of your products in all forms of conditions, ensuring their development is up to health code, and rigorously ensuring any and all health hazards have been remedied should be your main priorities before launching a product. However, customers interface with your business in more ways than one here.
For example, let’s take the example of a restaurant. What safety dangers could potentially harm a guest? Well, as mentioned before, an overcrowded event space may be considered a deep fire hazard. A lack of food hygiene application can spoil food before it’s even served. Staff without adequate training in these matters can take too long to intervene when an issue is present. Without investing in the best cleaning staff, the facilities may remain in a questionable condition.
Do these considerations end the things you should be looking out for? Not at all. In fact, they barely scratch the surface. Always, always, always keeping those that interface with your product or service in mind can help you generate systems and schedules that check, recheck and check again how safe those in proximity to your operation are.
With these simple considerations, you will remember that safety is always the most important business consideration.
*This post has been written by an outside source for Morning Business Chat.
