Whether you are a retail business, warehouse storage service or any kind of business, you need to have certain kinds of health and safety equipment to tackle any incident and accident. It’s something that you have no doubt been thinking about, because health and safety is a major compliance concern. Regulators are more likely to place heavy penalties and fines on businesses if they violate health and safety rules, than financial reporting. It really is that serious. So you have probably become aware of what kinds of health and safety equipment you might need. Here we cover the top 5, which will as a collection, be able to cover most areas and incident concerns you have.
Spillage control
Almost any business is at risk of some kind of spillage. In the office it could be a spillage of water or food. For a clothing store it could be a customer’s drink, or perhaps someone’s vomit. It could be your own products in a retail store that sells food. Spills are just part of doing business, as if you sell liquids or handle liquids of some kind, you will require a spill kit. The absorbent material will quickly soak up the liquid and make it easier to pick up and transport safely. This is great if you have a simple spill such as a broken bottle of pasta sauce on the store floor, or if you have a cooling liquid spill in the manufacturing facility, it can quickly act to prevent further danger.
First aid kit
We don’t quite know why so many businesses fail to invest in a decent first aid kit but you would be shocked at the rate that they don’t. And the funny thing is, a good first aid kit will only cost you $30-40. This is a kit that will have any or all of the following.
- Bandages to soak up blood from an open wound
- Tourniquet to quickly prevent further blood leaking from the wound
- Scissors to cut clothing, bandages and other material such as tape
- Medical tape, used to keep bandages in place
- Aspirin to help with a migraine
- Plasters to stop a small cut leaking
- Disposable gloves, which prevent infection
- Cleaning wipes to sanitize an area
- An aluminum or space blanket to help warm up the body in case of shock or rapid temperature loss
- Gauze pads, to clean an area after being soaked with sanitizer
Signs are useful
Just directing people to and away from areas of danger is a big help. If there is a spillage that cannot be seen right away, putting up yellow hazard signs that show people where the spill is can greatly prevent further injuries from happening. Signs that can be hung are also great because they let everyone know when they are entering into a potentially hazardous zone.
Let’s say you have a warehouse business as a gas canister was just found to be leaking. You can hang up danger signs that warn people not to go into a certain room or area of the warehouse where the gas has been escaping.
Highly visible clothing
We all know that business is not a 9 to 5 thing when you own and run your own. We know that working morning and night shifts is something pretty common among CEOs and middle management. It’s vital that you have highly visible clothing for all your team that will be working the graveyard shift.
This is because should they decide to work outside they should be clearly visible to anyone, especially vehicles. If you own a manufacturing facility, workers will be transporting goods to different parts of the property and also directing vehicles coming in from roads to the loading bays, etc. So, make sure your managers and employees all have clothing that is easily seen during low light and when headlights are shone on them.
Fire extinguisher
No business should ever have to be without a fire extinguisher. It is a personal tool to fight fires and you shouldn’t be relying on it. Sprinklers should do the main lifting when it comes to fighting fires but every single room should have a fire extinguisher that is clearly visible and easily accessible.
These health and safety solutions are not hard to understand and use. Everything from a first aid kit to a fire extinguisher should be present in your business. You should check and see if any of these items are not on your next list of things to do.
