In 2019, there were about 2.8 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses in private workplaces across the United States. The number remains unchanged from 2018, so it’s fair to say the efforts employers took to reduces these incidents didn’t yield any fruit.
Workplace illnesses don’t just keep your employees out of work or harm their individual productivity. Company-wide productivity will go down as well. And, depending on the nature of the illness, your business can quickly find itself deep in compensation settlements.
Illness prevention is the only way to protect not only your employees but also your company and its bottom line. The big question is: how do you do it effectively?
Continue reading for a couple of tips that can help.
Conduct a Health and Safety Assessment in Your Workplace
If it’s been a while since you had a case of illness in the workplace, it’s easy to take a back seat when it comes to illness prevention. After all, if nobody is getting ill, it probably means your workplace is safe and healthy, right?
While that might be true, it’s not wise to assume that the place is safe and healthy for your workers. There are health hazards that are invisible to the eye, which means you might be assuming the place is safe.
This is why conducting regular health and safety assessments in your workplace is the key to successful illness prevention. With regular assessments, it’s easy to catch hazards before they make someone ill.
Hire an in-House Health and Safety Specialist
Most small businesses don’t have an in-house health and safety specialist because of budgetary constraints. It’s understandable if you’re in this position, but when your goal is to prevent illnesses in the workplace, it’s time to make room for this professional in your budget.
With an in-house specialist, you don’t have to rely on external firms for your workplace’s health and safety assessments. Your specialist will do them, even more frequently because that’s their job.
An in-house specialist can recommend various health and safety technologies you can purchase to help make the workplace more conducive. Here is an example of a technology that disinfects some of the most commonly occurring pathogenic micro-organisms.
Train Your Employees on Illness Prevention
Your workplace’s illness prevention strategy is only as effective as your employees’ willingness and ability to practice and observe your health and safety practices.
Training your employees enhances their health and safety awareness. They’ll know what to do to prevent workplace illnesses.
Your in-house safety specialist can develop effective training programs, so that’s another reason to hire this professional.
Maintain a Clean Workplace
A clean workplace is a healthy workplace. It’s that simple, really.
The challenge most small businesses face is maintaining an effective cleaning schedule, but all you need to do is outsource the task to a commercial cleaning service provider.
Illness Prevention Saves Lives
In the workplace, as is anywhere else, illness prevention saves lives. It also helps you build a successful business. If your workers are constantly falling ill, who will want to work there?
As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to provide a safe and healthy workplace. Put these tips into practice.
Explore our blog for more workplace advice.
