There’s no denying that industry standards are constantly changing and evolving. In fact, there has never been a more important time for UK businesses to take stock of their workplace health and safety practices. New regulations are coming into effect with the aim of reducing the number of accidents in workplaces across the country. Thankfully, companies can take practical steps to ensure they meet industry standards effectively and efficiently: by engaging in an audit process.
An audit lets you know how your company measures up against other businesses in your field, so you can see where improvements can be made. It will also reveal any areas of risk that you might not have been aware of before — after all, you can’t fix something if you don’t know it’s broken! In this article, we’ll look at some things to consider when getting started with your business’s audit process, as well as some best practices on how to go about improving your organization’s health and safety standards.
Build A Culture Of Safety
Safety is paramount in any business, but it’s important to remember this at the outset. Luckily, many organizations already have a culture of safety in place — but if yours doesn’t, now is the time to start building one.
The first step is to define what a culture of safety means to your organization. What values do you want to be reflected in your workplace? What is the tone you want to set? What behaviors do you want your employees to exhibit? Once you’ve defined these things, you can start to implement ways of living these values on a day-to-day basis. For example, you could hold regular safety meetings to discuss best practices, as well as to highlight any risks that may need to be addressed. You could also create a safety committee to represent employees and to brainstorm new ways to promote safety within the organization.
Assess The Risks
Before you can create new policies and procedures or hire new employees, you need to be aware of the risks your organization currently faces. What are the most common hazards and mistakes in your workplace? What are your biggest risks? What could go wrong if nothing changes? You should also compare your organization’s current risk assessment to previous risk assessments to see if there have been any changes over time. This can be done through a risk assessment audit, which will let you know what areas of your business could be improved. You can also use a risk assessment checklist to make sure you’re covering all of your organization’s bases. A risk assessment report will also make it easy to share your findings with other stakeholders in your company — so you can start implementing solutions right away!
Create a Standard Operating Procedure
Once you know what needs improving, it’s time to start creating new policies and procedures to address your organization’s risks. This is where SMART objectives come in handy. SMART objectives are easy-to-follow guidelines that can help you create effective policies and procedures that meet industry standards. Focus on three main areas when creating new policies: scope, objectives, and critical success factors. Scope refers to whom the policy applies to. Objectives refer to what the policy intends to achieve. Critical success factors refer to the minimum requirements for the policy’s implementation. It’s important to note that these three areas can be interchanged depending on the type of policy you’re creating. For example, if you’re creating a policy to address a specific risk, you would use scope, objectives, and critical success factors. If you’re creating a procedure, you would use scope, objectives, and critical features.
Hire More Qualified Workers
In many cases, the risks you discover in your risk assessment audit will be related to the type of workers in your organization. For example, if your risk assessment identifies that employee training is lacking, this could be a risk factor depending on the industry you work in. If your industry requires a certain level of training, but your employees aren’t receiving it, your risk will be increased — and your organization could be fined for non-compliance. In this case, hiring more qualified workers would be the best way to start fixing the problem. You can perform a skills gap analysis to discover what skills your current employees don’t have and what skills you need to hire for. You can also conduct an occupational analysis to identify the risks specific to each job role in your company. This will let you know which roles are most in need of better training.
Improve Your Physical Space
Health and safety standards are also used to determine the quality of your physical space. Is your workplace meeting building codes? Are you meeting the correct standards in terms of height, width, and other structural elements? Are your electrical systems compliant? Are you following local fire codes? Are you meeting ADA requirements? All of these things and more are taken into consideration in industry standards, so it’s important to make sure that your physical space is up to code. You can do this by performing a physical space audit. A physical space audit can identify any issues with your physical space, as well as offer solutions to fix them. It can help you to identify health and safety issues with your physical space, such as ADA non-compliance or building code violations. It can also help you to discover ways to improve your physical space, such as adding more natural light or making a path for emergency exits.
Add More Automation
Health and safety standards also include the equipment you use in your workplace — so make sure your equipment is up to code. Is your equipment compliant? Is it stable, reliable, and safe? Does it meet industry standards? If your equipment isn’t up to code, you can’t use it — and you may even be fined for using it! Luckily, there are ways to check up on your equipment. You can perform a compliance audit to see if your equipment is up to code. You can also conduct a risk assessment on your equipment to discover any risks associated with it.
Conclusion
Finally, it’s important to remember that health and safety standards are constantly evolving. Organizations need to stay on top of industry changes and new regulations to ensure that their business stays compliant and operating efficiently. By conducting health and safety audits, businesses can identify where improvements need to be made and take steps to implement positive change. If your organization’s health and safety standards are subpar, now is the time to start working towards improvement.