Can I Prevent Every Accident in the Workplace?

As an employer, the wealth of responsibility falls on you when it comes to health and safety. In accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, it is your legal requirement to implement procedures that minimise the risk of accident and injury. If you’re dealing with a high-risk environment, such as a laboratory or warehouse, it’s tempting to wonder whether all risks can be eliminated. Can I actually prevent every accident from happening in the workplace? In this blog, we’ll discuss how managing risk and setting up the right actions is the best course of action for every employer.

Why Is There a Risk of an Accident in the Workplace?

In every working environment, there is some degree of risk. Whether this is due to human-error, stock movement, or simply a number of individuals occupying the same space at the same time. It is impossible to avoid risk entirely. The best thing that a business can do is assess the hazards at hand, agree on ways to minimise them, and reassess the working environment regularly.

How Do I Prevent Accidents in the Workplace?

The only way you can minimise or prevent the risk of accidents at work is to first understand that they exist. One of the most comprehensive ways to do this is to carry out a risk assessment. This is a process by which you evaluate all of the risks to your employee’s health and safety. To do so, you will:

• Identify the hazards and the factors that have the potential to cause harm. This is also known as hazard identification.
• Analyse and evaluate the risks. Here, you will determine which risks are most prominent and need to be addressed urgently.
• Decipher ways to eliminate the risk (if possible) or control it in an appropriate manner.

Risk assessments are an internal process that doesn’t carry any legal weight. However, they are imperative to understanding the potential problems that your employees could face. We recommend carrying them out with a number of appointed bodies within your business. Make a note of all of your findings, the determinations on how serious each hazard is, and how you plan to address them. This way, your new procedures can be reassessed on a regular basis to ensure they are in keeping with any changes.

Managing the risk of accidents in the workplace is the best way to help protect employees, guests, and visitors. You will never be able to entirely eliminate risk but reducing it significantly will create a happier and more thriving environment. Lasting Impressions designs signs to help you do just this. Providing visual reminders, information, and advice to prevent accidents, they are a vital addition to your workplace. If you would like to speak to a member of our specialist team about managing accident risk, get in contact with us here today.