It doesn’t matter whether you have 5 employees or 500, an employer’s responsibility is to ensure that employees have a safe environment in which to work. This includes both the day-to-day processes carried out at your premises, and the general safety and welfare of the people who work for you.
There’s a fine line between using security measures to keep your staff safe, and invading their privacy. That’s why, before you implement safety measures, you should always check that you’re complying with the relevant local and national legislation.
Shift workers
Many manufacturing companies and some service companies, such as call centres, are operating 24 hours per day. This means that staff members are often either starting or finishing their shift late at night or early in the morning. These are times when employees entering or leaving the building are particularly at risk, and could benefit from:
• Good exterior lighting
• Keypad-controlled entry
• Security staff presence
• Monitored CCTV systems
• Panic buttons
Measures like these are all designed to help shift workers feel more comfortable both inside and outside the building.
9-5 workers
It’s just as important that those employees who work normal office hours feel safe inside the building. During the day, most offices have a reception area, which visitors have to go through before they can enter the business. To control access, many companies use visitor passes. This not only helps employees to recognise a visitor to the company, but it also means that in the event of fire, or evacuation for some other reason, the visitor can be accounted for.
Equally, CCTV cameras can have a role to play throughout the day. Watching communal areas and exterior areas as well as monitoring the entrances and exits can help the business to prevent a crime or trespass in plenty of time.
Safe workers are usually more productive workers, so by spending a little time and money making sure that your building and its people are protected, you could be doing a favour for your business.