A Few Words on Act Safety
A significant number of managers feel that, if every last member of staff has enough health & safety training, they have all the experience required to cope with an emergency. In reality however, employees require more than just basic education in health & safety and risk assessment. You need to supply your staff with a great supervisor, the appropriate equipment, and last but not least regular practice.
A team supervisor has an even greater purpose to play than simply general supervision. A supervisor has to be a good communicator and see health & safety training as important. On top of checking compliance with health & safety legislation, the supervisor also must make sure that employees perform every task to the best of their abilty. This is a challenging task. The supervisor is required to have in depth knowledge of both the industry best practice and manufacturing procedures not to mention a high standard of comprehension of safety legislation, the identification of problem areas, and first aid.
Just supplying health & safety training actually is not enough for your staff. Your staff need to get practical experience of risk assessment and the recognition of hazards. They have to know the best method of eliminating problems and knowing what to do if the worst happens. Employees are only protected when their training and procedures have become a habit. Safety equipment is every bit as essential to the your staff’s safety as the education itself. Without the correct gear or alternatively should they find that supplies are not working properly in a crisis, then all the education your employees have already taken is basically of no benefit. You have to plan frequent inspections to ascertain if you possess all the essential apparatus and also to check that it is functioning properly. If you find something is not in good condition, ensure that it is sorted out quickly and returned to the right location.
Health & safety training is essential to the well being of your workforce, however they also must have the right gear, frequent practise excercises, and an educated supervisor who gets the workforce excited about being safe at work. If you implement these steps you will find health & safety legislation will become ingrained in your business culture instead of something troublesome for everyone to remember.
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