A significant number of companies believe that, since each member of staff has the required level of health & safety education, they are well equipped for an incident. In reality though, staff should have much more than just basic education in health & safety regulatory affairs. You need to supply your staff with an enthusiastic supervisor, not to mention provide the right safety gear and give them the opportunity to practice. Those in a supervisory capacity has a bigger function to play than just managing the shop floor. Your choice of supervisor must see the importance of health & safety education and be able to encourage others to share their excitement about it. On top of observing rules and regulations, the supervisor must also check that employees perform every task well. Naturally it’s hard to achieve all this at once. Extensive product knowledge is a requirement for a supervisory role as well as a very high level of familiarity with safety laws, risk assessment, and emergency assistance techniques. It simply isn’t enough to send your employees on a health & safety course. Your staff have to gain practical experience of risk assessment and the recognition of hazards. Employees in addition require insights into the steps necessary to remedy the situation and understanding what to do when disaster strikes. Your employees are only properly prepared when all they have been taught has become a habit. Education is useless if you don’t have the required safety equipment. Should staff find they are without gear they need, or even notice that supplies are damaged when they are needed, then all the training your employees have undergone is basically for nothing.
You have to inspect regularly to ensure you have all the equipment you need and that it is working correctly. Should you have a problem with your safety gear, have it fixed or serviced as soon as you can. Your employees must get appropriate health and safety training, however they also require decent supplies, frequent practise excercises, and a supervisor who is gifted with infectious enthusiasm. Then complying with all the safety regulations be ingrained in your business culture rather than an inconvenience for employees to remember constantly.