Health and safety are essential to both employers and employees. If standards in this area are unmet, it can be a costly and damaging experience on many levels. Safety hazards and an unsafe work environment can lead to accidents, health problems, and, in extreme cases, injury or death. This can be damaging to the affected employee, costly to the employer in workers’ compensation claims, tarnish the company’s reputation, and, in the worst-case scenario, lead to legal action and fines. Health and safety in the workplace is no accident; it is the result of intelligent efforts. It involves identifying potential hazards to the employees’ health and taking preventative measures to eliminate the risk of an incident. Measures should also be taken to ensure that evacuation procedures are in place in the case of fire or any other emergency. This area is a specific target of government legislation and should be a policy area in its own right.
Generally, the concern for maintenance and safety comes as an afterthought to the daily duties of managers in the workplace. However, the preventive actions or lack thereof can make or break a company. Office maintenance deals with several broad areas. Managers are responsible for maintaining a productive office space by keeping IT and communications functional and ensuring a safe and clean environment. Office maintenance also involves a proactive stance towards maintenance and upkeep of office equipment. Finally, the manager is responsible for providing support services for the organization. This can be accomplished by maintaining or outsourcing mail, office cleaning, waste disposal, and security services.
Maintaining a Clean and Organized Office Space
Creating and maintaining a clean and organized office space may seem like an obvious goal, but it is not easy to achieve. Mess tends to accumulate whenever you are not paying attention to it. It would be best to analyze how you work to create an effective system that will keep your office organized. Set a standard for the cleanliness that you would like to maintain. Think about how your space got into its current state and what you could have done to prevent it. If the clutter in your office has been accumulating for months, you may need to set aside an entire day or more to declutter and reorganize and then spend a few minutes each day doing damage control until you have a system in place. Assign a place for everything in your office, and tell anyone who shares the space, if applicable, about these assignments. For instance, you may want to keep your paperclips in your desk drawer and your extra pens on a shelf in your closet. If you are working on a particularly long or involved project, do a little cleaning each day to ensure that clutter does not get out of hand. At the end of each work day, take a few minutes to tidy up your space and do a quick once-over to address anything missed. This will prevent the mess from accumulating and save you the trouble of doing a large cleaning job to reorganize.
Ensuring Health and Safety Regulations
This is essential since failure to maintain a safe work environment can result in employee injury and, worst case, legal action against the company. An insurance company is more likely to pay out if an injury claim is made against an employer who cannot prove that regular maintenance of the office space has been carried out. Like preventing damage to data and computer equipment, it is often cheaper to replace items in the office than to deal with the aftermath of an incident. Requirements to adhere to health and safety regulations may vary depending on the nature of the office work. However, it is generally agreed that a safe work environment is beneficial and essential in achieving good productivity.
The manager must ensure that the office space complies with all laws and regulations concerning health and safety. Some key responsibilities are as follows: Know the laws in your state related to the office environment and how to comply with those laws. An excellent resource is the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). However, specific rules may also pertain to the state where you work. – Carry out regular office space checks to ensure they meet the required health and safety standards. This can be done by walking through the office and creating a checklist of things to look for to ensure all hazards are removed. See the linked document for a Sample Office Health and Safety Checklist. – Record all checks throughout the year to prove the space is regularly maintained. – Be sure to take any precautions necessary to fix problems encountered. This may include repairing or replacing office furniture, purchasing new computer equipment, or even contracting a cleaner to pay a visit more frequently.
Emergency Preparedness and Response
A central aspect of maintaining a safe office is knowing that fires, natural disasters, and medical emergencies may occur at any time. Although the likelihood of these incidents is low, it is essential to have a plan in place to ensure the safety of all employees and visitors to your office. If your office is large or structured, it is recommended that floor plans are drawn up detailing emergency exits, assembly points, and the locations of hazardous materials. After establishing a strategy, it is essential to conduct fire and emergency drills every six months to ensure that all employees are familiar with the procedures. It is necessary to have up-to-date first aid certificates and well-stocked kits available in the office and employees trained in first aid. Another means to ensure safety in emergencies is compiling an emergency contact list. This list will contain contact details of all employees and specific contacts for next of kin. Finally, it would be best to remain informed of any threats or potential emergencies in your area. This may involve analyzing local council reports or keeping up with current news. By doing so, you can prepare your office in any emergency.