When you’re employed, it’s likely that you don’t think about the safety aspect of what you’re doing because you trust your employer to have given you the correct training.

However, when you’re a business owner, one of the main things you think about is whether you and your staff are safe doing the job that you’re in. Here’s a few ideas on how you can stay safe at work so that you can continue to do your job efficiently.

Take Your Time

Rushed work is not only likely to be of bad quality, but it can also put you in a position where you’re in harms way. For example, if you work in a kitchen and you’re trying to quickly dice some food so that you can move onto your next task, you’re putting yourself at risk of cutting yourself.

Taking your time will ensure that the risk of an accident is lowered, and also that your work is of a better quality.

Use Your Head

If a job is presented to you that you’re uncomfortable with doing, then you have full rights to refuse to do it. For example, if you’re asked to repair a roof and there isn’t proper safety equipment provided, then don’t undertake the work given to you. Sometimes, even with proper equipment provided things can go wrong.

If you’re climbing a ladder and it slips or even breaks, you have full rights to take legal action and call a ladder accident attorney to see if you’re the one at fault, or if you stand grounds to sue the ladder company.

Whether you’re the boss or the employee, if you don’t feel safe taking on any jobs, then protect yourself by refusing to do so.

Keep Machines Up To Date

There are many jobs around the world which require you to use machinery that could not only hurt someone, but if not used correctly could be fatal.

Make sure that any machinery or equipment you and your staff are using is up to date and serviced regularly to decrease the chances of any injuries happening.

If a piece of machinery is old and tends to ‘play up’, it’s time to get rid of it and replace it with something that won’t put anyone in harm’s way. It might cost you some money to replace, but it will save you in the long run from an injury claim.

Provide Training

If you haven’t already, make sure that you and your staff have taken training on how to use all of the equipment and machines within the business safely and correctly.

This will minimise the risk of anyone getting hurt, and also provide you with safety against being sued by a member of staff. If you’ve provided the correct training and they hurt themselves, then they could be the one at fault instead of you.

Keep yourself and any staff safe in the workplace by following this guide, and you can continue to work professionally and efficiently!

This post has been contributed by Ryan Gatt, it may contain affiliate links.