You can never run the risk of having a business that presents significant health & safety risks to other people. These “people” could be employees who work on your premises all the time. But they could also be members of the public, customers, vendors, or anyone else who may encounter your property in one way or another.
When a safety risk is present, it only takes a moment for an accident to happen, which leaves you with a devastating lawsuit on your hands. Most of you are probably unaware that the average personal injury settlement is around $55,000. That’s a ridiculous amount of money for your business to pay, so you need to focus on addressing as many health & safety concerns as possible.
Where should you start? Assess your entire business location and keep an eye out for these warning signs:
Trip & Fall Hazards
Most accidents at work happen when someone either trips or slips and hurts themselves. You could argue that anyone can fall at any time, but there are easily a few warning signs to spot that increase the chances of an incident happening:
- Loose wires or cables running along main walking areas
- Spillages that haven’t been mopped up
- Random debris (boxes, equipment, etc.) lying in the middle of a walkway
- Stairs with no grip tape on them
You are never going to grow a business if you’re forking out fifty grand every few months because another person has slipped and injured themselves on your premises. Unfortunately, if any of the above things are present, this is very likely to keep happening. Start your health & safety assignment by ensuring that none of these hazards are in place anymore. Tidy up your wiring, and provide clear and obvious signage when there is a potential trip/slip hazard in place.
For example, you need a “Slippery Floor” sign if there’s a spillage of any kind – or the cleaner has just mopped the floor. You will also need a “Trip Hazard” sign if someone has the vacuum cleaner out, a window cleaner is outside your property, or loose cables are in play. Signage can save your bacon in a lawsuit because it shows that you took the necessary steps to help prevent an accident, and a good lawyer can argue that it was the injured party’s negligence that caused it.
Precarious Manhole Covers
Business owners forget that the outside of their property is still their responsibility. Yes, there will come a point where something is no longer “yours” and is instead either public property or someone else’s. However, if you have any manhole covers that fall within your property bounds, then you are responsible if they cause an injury – and this happens…a lot!
Precarious manhole covers can look like this:
- Overly raised lips cause trip hazards
- Excessively slippery materials lead to slip hazards
- Weak bolts that can result in people stepping through the cover
Many other factors can be at play, meaning it’s easy for someone to injure themselves while walking by. Address this with replacement manhole frames and covers that are designed to be more practical. Swapping something out for a newer version can mean you flatten out the area, improve grip, and reduce the chances of someone’s leg going through an old, broken cover.
Overloading Electrical Outlets
Unbelievably, it’s estimated that 1.2 million people sustain electrical accident-related injuries every year. While this statistic includes all sorts of electrical accidents, it’s safe to say that overloading electrical outlets is a big cause of many. In a digital workplace that relies on lots of electrical equipment, it’s normal to plug multiple things into your electrical outlets. Yes, these outlets are designed for this purpose – but the problem is when you add an extension lead and then overload it.
Plugging too many things into one or two outlets is a recipe for disaster, as things can short-circuit and cause electrical shocks. Sometimes, accidents happen when nobody is even near the outlet. All it needs is a spark from the socket being overloaded to then start an electrical fire. From there, you’re dealing with injury lawsuits because people inhaled smoke or got minor burns, etc.
So, here’s what you need to do: stop plugging too many things into the same outlets at once. It’s better to bring in an electrician to install more wall outlets than it is to use multiple extension leads in the same outlet. Also, check the voltage of any extension leads you use and the equipment you plug into them. It’s often much safer to plug high-powered equipment straight into a wall socket so it doesn’t overload.
More health & safety warning signs will pop up throughout your business. But if you start with these, then you’ll catch most of the biggest problems. Now it’s a case of addressing them to lower injury risks and make your business a safer (and less costly) place.
Photo by T.H. Chia on Unsplash
