For facility managers, proper health and safety don’t just mean abiding by the assigned regulations. In reality, it goes much further than that.
According to Lee Senter in CMMOnline, “There is more to health and safety than just following the law. There is a philosophy of health and safety based on the recognition, assessment, and control of hazards.”
So, how can facility managers maximize health and safety measures to ensure a protected workplace for their employees?
Identify potential hazards
It’s important that facility managers recognize the safety hazards that are present in their building and its operations. A hazard is classified as “anything that could potentially result in illness, injury, or death.”
To minimize safety risks for your employees, you must consider all possible danger-causing elements that may be present in your facility - even temporary ones. For example, a recently cleaned floor may be slippery, or renovations on the ceiling could result in falling debris.
Identifying hazards allow you to establish processes to eliminate them more easily.
Conduct regular job hazard analyses
One simple way to identify hazards is to conduct job hazard analyses. This means evaluating the routine tasks an employee performs regularly, using their usual tools.
As Lee Senter explains, “The work should be broken down into segments. Then each segment should be evaluated to determine any hazardous conditions or potentially hazardous conditions that are present or may occur.” When looking at each task, you should consider different scenarios to fully evaluate the safety threats it may involve.
When you finish a job hazard analysis, compile a list of the hazardous conditions you found, and then implement the changes necessary to rectify them.
Reinforce hazard controls
Sometimes, established hazard controls can become compromised.
Facility managers need to conduct regular checks to ensure that their established hazard controls are not being hindered. Also, when accidents or incidents occur, a thorough investigation needs to take place. By identifying the factors that caused a safety issue, you can determine and implement the right measures to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.
Health and safety measures are undoubtedly the most critical part of maintaining effective building operations.
By identifying potential hazards to safety, regularly carrying out job hazard analyses, and ensuring the effectiveness of the hazard controls that are in place, building managers can protect their employees from preventable accidents in the workplace.
And by working with a trusted partner who can provide you all the facility maintenance supplies you need to keep your building safe for your workers, your business can compete on the quality and state of your facilities.