3 Small Business Tips for All-around Office Safety
In the hustle and bustle of daily strategy meetings, continuous collaboration and the delivery of goods and services to loyal customers, your small business could be missing out on one vital element for success: Safety.
But where should you start when updating something as multifaceted as office safety? Facilities management? Employee safety policies? Data security?
Why not all three? Here are tips for improving safety in your building, for your workers and even around the information your business uses every day.
Enhance your signs for emergency situations
In the heat of the moment, employees depend on signs to lead them to safety. Does your emergency workplace signage cover all the bases? Four things your signs should highlight:
- Evacuation routes: When the fire alarm sounds, confusion over evacuation routes could cause serious trouble. Be sure evacuation maps accurately reflect the layout of the office and the route safest for employees to take.
- Fire extinguishers: Not only should every business have a clearly visible sign for every fire extinguisher on-site, they should also print signs that map out where all the fire extinguishers are on a given floor.
- Emergency contacts: Everyone knows to call 911 in an emergency, but certain industries may also want other contact information accessible to employees, like the poison control hotline or the front desk at the nearest hospital. That means posting signage for alternate emergency contacts where it can be seen by all.
- Caution signs for unique properties: Older or remodeled buildings may contain a few structural quirks, like elevated door thresholds that require a step up or down to enter or exit. These features can be quite charming – that is, until they cause an accident. Create custom signs for these irregularities to prevent employees or guests from tripping.
Find more flexible office furniture
Think your job is too cushy to be dangerous? Think again. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one-third of all worker compensation cases employers face involve musculoskeletal disorders, or injuries to muscles, tendons and nerves exacerbated by things like poor posture or repetitive straining.
Safety isn’t the only concern when discussing musculoskeletal disorders. Salespeople slumped over their desk day in and day out may be prone to taking sick leave more often, which undermines in-house operations and opens the door for worker compensation claims.
Ergonomic workstations can be helpful tools in the fight for healthy employees. Adjustable standing desks, chairs with smarter backing, computer monitor stands, squishy wrist rests for your keyboard ––- supplying workers with any of this gear could dramatically improve office wellness, so long as small business owners are willing to invest.
Defend virtual safety with enhanced data security
Protecting employees from physical injuries is one thing, but today’s businesses must also do everything they can to preserve their workers’ virtual selves as well.
Even the brainiest IT professionals can only do so much to protect sensitive employment data coursing through enterprise networks. Real security takes a concerted effort from everyone for important reasons:
First, every mobile device employees use to access company servers, manage information or conduct business transactions is a potential security risk. CSO Online reported half of all businesses utilizing mobile technology have at least one device that places them outside data security compliance. Resolve this issue quickly and effectively by creating a solid enterprise mobility policy for safe use of all work-related devices, whether they’re owned by the business at large or its employees.
Next, any business relying on paper invoices or other kinds of physical documentation may be placing its data in peril every trash day. Cybercriminals will use any means they can to crack the code on your encrypted networks or assume the identities of your customers, even if it means diving through your garbage to scrounge for discarded resources. Professional shredding services specialize in destroying valuable printed information so it never falls into the wrong hands.
Save your small business from jeopardy. Give these safety measures a little extra consideration and decide if your company could use an upgrade.