As an employer, keeping your employees’ workplace safe is one of your most important responsibilities. This is easier said than done, however, as accidents are common and often unexpected in every industry. If you are looking to keep the employees of your business protected, you will need to come up with and implement a workplace safety program.

A workplace safety plan should clearly outline the physical and health risks that may harm workers as well as steps to prevent accidents and what to do if an accident does happen.

The key points you should have in your safety program document should include:

Goals/Policy Statement

What is your policy when it comes to workplace injuries or accidents? What is your goal when it comes to keeping employees on the job safe? This statement should be short, clear and concise, explicitly stating what the target goal of the plan is.

Hazard Identification

Before hazards can be prevented, they must be identified. How will your employees and managers identify hazards in the workplace? What are the signs they should look for? In a restaurant, for example, employees may need to look for spilled drinks to avoid slips and falls. In a position dealing with pets such as a veterinary technician, employees should be trained to identify the signs of stress in pets in order to avoid bites. Consider the hazards of your business’ industry as you outline your system for identification.

Safety Practices

Once you have outlined how to identify hazards, it is important to specify how to avoid them. Safety practices are measures to take to avoid accident and injury. Going back to a restaurant, one step to avoid accidents can be to clean up spills immediately and use wet floor signs where necessary.

Emergency Response

Unfortunately, all of the safety measures in the world can still not prevent all accidents. In case something does occur, your business needs a clear plan on how to handle a variety of situations. This can include clearing the accident site, fetching a manager, calling emergency services and more.

Make sure all employees are trained and have open communication with each other and management for accidents. Keeping your workplace safe for both employees and customers is a crucial part of running your business and not a responsibility to take lightly. When in doubt, speak with an expert about crafting a workplace safety plan.