Health & Safety Regulations your Start-up Needs to Know About

Health and safety is a major part of our everyday lives and it plays a pivotal role in our work, with everyone from employees to employers having to share the responsibility of creating and adhering to different rules, policies and procedures.

As an employee, it is important to be able to identify and apply health and safety regulations within your own workspace as well as throughout the entire environment. For example, you will need to assess your desk for dangers along with the hallways and communal areas in order to ensure the whole of your workplace is health and safety compliant. This is important for people who specialise in all sectors, from industrial workers through to factory and office employees.

Let’s take a look at the top five dangers that lurk within a workplace:

Blocked Fire Exits

One of the most dangerous hazards in a workplace is a blocked fire exit and it is your responsibility to check that exits are readily accessible in case of an emergency. You can make it part of your morning routine and in some places of business, a rota will be drawn up that hands the job of checking fire exits for obstructions over to a different member of staff every day.

Unmarked Dangers

It is also important to ensure fire exits are adequately marked and while this can be done with LED signs, you can also paint emergency exit arrows onto the walls. Specialist websites such as Rawlins Paint sell industrial paint that is perfect for using in an office and painting important information on the walls, such as arrows that point to fire alarms and emergency exit doors, can be cheaper for start-up companies than buying expensive signs.

Broken Furniture

If you work in an office and rely on your desk chair to take your weight day in, day out, then it is important to check it over to ensure that it is working ok. This can be done once every couple of weeks and you can look out for problems such as loose screws and broken wheels to help you to avoid an accident.

Visible Cables

Cables are not only a fire hazard they can also cause you to trip over if they are not hidden away properly. You will need to make sure any visible cables and wires in and around your workspace are properly stored by using specialist cable boxes that allow you to place an extension lead with numerous plug sockets inside to hide a lot of your wires. You can also run cables up walls to avoid contact with the floor as much as possible.

Unlabelled Chemicals

Many places of business have chemicals stored on-site, including everyday cleaning products such as bleach. It is vital to ensure that these chemicals are stored away properly and this means keeping them in a locked room or cupboard and labelling them. Labels will need to state which chemicals are hazardous and feature a warning label, and all dangerous products should be stored away to ensure only qualified people have access to them.

It is good for both employees and employers to ensure that their place of business is health and safety compliant by creating and following specific guidelines on a daily basis.