Running a business is hard work – especially when you have an office filled with employees.
It’s your responsibility to provide employees with a safe and secure working environment. Failure to do this can lead to a wide range of problems, from accidents to injuries. As a business owner, you won’t want any of this to happen, which is why you must make sure your office is up to the industry safety standard.
Whether you’ve recently moved into a new office building or have been operating at the same HQ for over a decade, use the following 5 methods to keep your office safe and secure for years to come.
- Do a Fire Risk Assessment
Now that millions of employees around the world have started to return to the office, it’s made fire safety in the workplace one of the main priorities for business owners. After all, many offices and work buildings have been left vacant for several years due to the recent pandemic, which means they’re more at risk of fires and accidents due to a lack of safety inspections.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to conduct the fire risk assessment yourself. Instead, what most companies do is call a fire inspection and safety company to come and do one on their behalf. Typically, this involves trained experts assessing a building from top to bottom, including:
- The building’s layout
- Electrical equipment
- Smoking areas
- The number of employees in the building
- Escape routes and more
At the end of a fire risk assessment, you and the property owner will be provided with tips and advice regarding what to do next if this is necessary. For example, the inspector might find a particular aspect of your office is a fire safety risk and therefore needs to be fixed.
- Install CCTV
Unfortunately, crime and theft are worldwide problems. Often, business offices and factories are sources that criminals target to steal valuable items and cause damage. The good news, though, is that CCTV is an excellent crime deterrent – especially for business offices that are in popular locations. When potential criminals see the security cameras, it automatically makes them less likely to go ahead with the break-ins. Plus, CCTV isn’t as expensive as it used to be, and you can even monitor some CCTV remotely through your smartphone and other devices.
- Leave the Lights Turned On Overnight
Although it’s not environmentally friendly, leaving your office lights on overnight (on a reduced setting) is an excellent method for deterring vandalism and theft. This is because the assumption is that there are still people inside the office, which is why criminals will decide to leave it alone. Remember, you don’t need to leave every single light in the office turned on. Instead, simply leave the lights that are closest to the main entrance left turned on.
- Store Important Documents in the ‘Cloud’
Cloud storage is the latest security trend in the world of business. Not only does it ensure that important documents never get lost (as they’re stored in internet databases), but it also means that you don’t have to have important paper documents laying around the office anymore. Instead, they can be kept nice and safe in the cloud, where any relevant employee can access them.
Some of the best cloud storage applications for businesses include Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, MEGA, and pCloud. It’s also common for cloud providers to offer business packages; which usually involve getting access to more storage space at a reduced price.
- Provide Employees with Health and Safety Training
Finally, make sure to provide your employees with health and safety training this year. Whether you employ 10 or 100 employees, this is incredibly important. The goal behind health and safety training is to provide employees with training on:
- Responsibilities and legal requirements
- Fire evacuations
- How to spot safety hazards
Through regular health and safety training, you can foster a positive working environment where standards are kept high and employees look out for each other. Not to mention, it will also drastically reduce the risk of accidents and the financial costs that can come with them, such as lawsuits.
These days, health and safety training can even be done online, which is good for employees who work from home or on a hybrid basis. There’s no longer a need to travel to health and safety courses and workshops that take place in completely different cities, which is good to know.
Office Safety and Secureness: Summary
You’ve now reached the end of the guide. By following each of these steps, you can keep your office and employees safe over the coming years. Even if you think your office is 100 percent safe, it’s highly advised that you get it assessed, as potential risks are often difficult to spot.
