4 Steps to Ensure Your Business Meets Health & Safety Standards

4 Steps to Ensure Your Business Meets Health and Safety Standards

Health and safety isn’t a particularly exciting topic to dedicate your time to, but it is imperative. Any business that fails to abide by health and safety regulations will put itself in a highly volatile position, risking its reputation and the well-being of its staff. 

To ensure you stay on track, we have put together a list of four steps that all businesses should stick to for health and safety. It doesn’t have to be a complicated process, and it could save you a lot of money and stress.

1. Make Sure the Premises Is Free From Vermin

Vermin arrive in various forms, including animals as big as rats and something as tiny as fleas. Regardless of their size, they pose a severe risk to health and safety, especially if you’re in the food business. 

If you suspect you might have a vermin problem, it’s time to start researching questions like ‘how does rat poison work?’ and ‘will the vermin go away if I just ignore them?’ Spoiler: the answer is no. 

2. Appoint a Health and Safety Officer

One of the best ways to ensure you’re staying within health and safety regulations is by appointing a staff member to be your designated health and safety officer. Creating a point person for this means there will always be someone on your time who knows the ins and outs of current policy, which can help reduce the complexity and confusion surrounding the topic. 

If you’re a smaller business, this doesn’t have to be a brand-new hire entirely. You could give an existing staff member this responsibility. Just make sure to discuss it thoroughly with them beforehand!

Health and Safety Act

3. Create a Specific Health and Safety Policy Document

You, as the business owner or your appointment health and safety officer, should write this document. It covers everything staff members need to be aware of while on shift. 

It could relate to handling food, transporting products, or interacting with the public, including so much more! It will effectively operate as your touchstone for health and safety so everyone on your team knows exactly what they should be doing. 

4. Perform a Full Risk Assessment

An efficient risk assessment means asking many ‘what if?’ questions and sourcing the answers. Consider what could go wrong within your business and draw up a plan of how you will respond in these circumstances.

Failure to adequately prepare is to blame for a large chunk of workplace accidents, which can be costly very quickly. Don’t take the risk. Prepare ahead of time and keep your staff involved with the process. It has to be a team effort across your business, or it won’t be effective!

Keep It Clean!

Failing to abide by current health and safety standards can significantly damage your reputation, staff, and customers. Don’t take it lightly. Ensure your entire team understands the importance of abiding by these regulations to minimize the likelihood of running into a costly problem!