Terris Little Haven

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SafetyWorkplace Safety Management

Why Safety Is All About Good Planning

It’s easy to think about safety as minute details that help keep someone protected. A hard hat on a construction site, for example. But the truth is that this is simply the end point of safety, not the overarching systemic approach to ensuring it. For a construction worker to don a hard hat, there must have been several layers of planning, procurement, management, maintenance and robust risk assessments to ensure doing so is enough, viable, and an appropriate step towards protection.

For this reason, while getting into the details can be important, it should never supersede the overall strategic approach you take to planning. Otherwise, you’re simply using a piecemeal approach, and that’s never enough when human well-being is on the line.

With that in mind, you may wish to consider some of the following advice:

People Management Software

No matter how complex the operation you’re running is, it doesn’t get more complex than people. That’s why having utilities to manage crews from every department, such as janitorial software like this, will help your team correctly assign safety necessities among all other tasks. This kind of software allows you to keep track of a dedicated department’s roles, responsibilities, training, and certifications and collate that with others you manage, in this instance general upkeep connecting to administrative management.

This approach also lets you monitor who’s up to date on safety protocols, who needs refresher training, and where resources need to be focused going forward. If you work in a high-traffic environment with many different moving parts, having a tool like this can help you break through any communication or planning barriers you had before.

Documentation Indexing & Reports

Keeping thorough records is a huge part of maintaining a safe environment, especially in industries that encompass various departments in one workplace or enterprise. But just having the documentation isn’t enough – it has to be well-organized, accessible to the right people, and appropriate to search through when required. As you can imagine, digitization does help with this, but only if done right. 

We’d recommend integrating documentation indexing systems, because they can help you categorize and gain access to those important reports as and when you need them, like risk assessments, safety audits, or reports, and more, not only for internal use but if a safety failing happens, such as in an employee lawsuit..

Routine Compliance Inspections

Of course, safety doesn’t stop once the rules are in place; you have to make sure they’re followed. That’s where routine compliance inspections can help you save time and make sure everyone is behaving to the standard as you expect (and as they agreed to within the bounds of their contract). Regular checks like that ensure many things, but good examples include that safety equipment is in good condition, workers are following the necessary protocols and any new issues or accountability failings are identified before they can cause harm, with disciplinary action if required also.

With this advice, we hope you can more easily and readily ensure you plan for safety, and safely plan in kind.