Safety Training: Best Practices Are Your Best Defence

(SSN) - Smart employers know that workplace safety is not simply an annoying line entry in the annual budget that costs the company money. Modern organizations realize worker safety is a vital issue that can save a business thousands of dollars in fines and huge losses in their public relations cachet. Most importantly however, demonstrating a commitment to worker well-being is the right thing to do to keep your employees, the backbone of any business, happy, healthy and working hard for your bottom line.

What is BSAT?

Basic Safety Awareness Training or BSAT is an essential aspect of any business that hires employees. Having policies in place designed to save your staff from serious injury is a key component of demonstrating due diligence; a crucial element in cases involving the department of Occupational Health and Safety. Each facet of your business operation requires different focuses for the safety training that should be offered. Office workers obviously have different safety concerns than field workers, for example, but safety training is still a necessity for each class of employee.

Whether in the Office

Those in the office, for example, must be mindful of issues such as repetitive motion syndrome while keyboarding and back injury prevention while handling heavy office supplies; carrying cases of bond paper, to use just one example. Inside employees should also be specifically trained in the proper use of office machines such as shredders that account for a sizeable number of injuries annually, as reported by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. Accidents can happen in every facet of your business and BSAT is your most potent response.

Or in the Field

Field workers often have even more safety concerns than those faced by your inside staff. Outside employees must deal with dangers that run the gamut from working with heights to entry into enclosed, below-grade spaces; and from frostbite to heatstroke.  Whatever conditions your employees will face, you must have a safety policy attached to each activity to ensure your company avoids the human and financial costs of a workplace accident. It is equally vital to maintain documentation that your safety policies and protocols have been properly taught and are being continuously followed. Your company must not just be safe, but be seen to be safe, as well.

Implement and Document

Management and employees alike need to be aware of the policies in place to deal with workplace injuries. The company needs to spell out exactly who are the go-to people in each business unit who are responsible for safety policy implementation, first aid, and serious incident follow-up. Only by making BSAT a priority can companies hope to move forward with the least amount of risk liability in the new millennium. There is no excuse for not providing essential safety training in the eyes of either the government or the judiciary. Keeping your workers safe is a fiduciary responsibility and failure to do so is an actual crime.

Safety must become an organization’s core competence.

For more information on how you can deliver Safety Training to your workforce contact SafetySpot by clicking here and start the process today.