When it comes to a workplace, especially one that has heavy machinery or similar dangerous contraptions abound – it is very important to look into the occupational health and safety standards. Simply put, these are a set of regulations that ensure the workplace is safe for its employees that they will not come to any physical or mental harm whilst at work under normal circumstances. To ensure that the OHS standards of your company are rigorous, it is ideal to obtain a certificate from a certifying institution (national or international). To this end, however, there are some mistakes (that might be present in your company) that you need to address beforehand:
- Address every incident – to obtain your OHS certification online or even physically, the first step is to make sure to address every potential issue and incident that arises at the company premises. As goes with the theory of escalation, small incidents can snowball into much larger incidents with greater repercussions if left uninvestigated. The OSHA standards dictate a certain level of injuries (minor injuries) and above should be investigated, leaving anything below that threshold up to the company’s decisions. A reputable company will put effort into investigating even minor accidents to look for causes that trigger such issues.
- Be quick to address issues – another tenet to obtaining risk management certification online is to address incidents as they pop up. Never wait days or weeks to open up investigations on incidents. As you would understand, the memory of an incident will eventually fade with every passing day, obscuring the real happenings of the day in cloudy memories. No matter how large or small the incident was, make it a point to investigate it right away to ensure that the investigatory team can satisfactorily find the exact cause of the issue.
- Do not settle for convenient excuses – it is easy to conduct a large-scale investigation in the aftermath of an incident to show everyone that the company is invested in the well-being of its employees. It is even easier to put the blame of the incident on the carelessness of the employees with some lacking evidence, and thereby avoid the company taking a hit with regards to its reputation. Try to avoid such methods of settling accidents. There will be times when employees will be at fault, but it will not be every single time. Machines can malfunction, or the safety standards of the workplace can be lacking – address every factor before coming to a conclusion.
- Factor in bias – bias is a result of the human nature, and it is hard to avoid falling into a bias when analysing a particular issue. To reduce the probability of an investigation being biased, it is a good idea to have strict guidelines on how to conduct investigations, and to always look at every aspect of a problem to find the exact underlying issue.