When you’re the owner of a manufacturing or construction company, you might be worried about how you’re going to keep your workers safe and well in this traditionally dangerous environment.
If you’re concerned about the wellness of your staff in the long run, as well as their mental health while they’re working for your business, here are some of the top steps that you can take to promote balance in your industrial environment.
1. Wellness Training
As a business owner, you might only have thought of the worker training that’s needed to ensure that your team can handle equipment and complete their jobs correctly.
However, a good portion of your training program should also be dedicated to health and wellness, or else you might find that a lot of people are frequently needing to take sick leave.
For instance, you should ensure that your team is using the correct lifting practices and that they know how to wear and use PPE correctly.
You might also want to sign them up to programs that cover more general wellness tips, such as healthy eating and preventing dehydration on the job.
2. Worker Accommodation
Although your contractors will be spending a lot of time in your workplace, most of their downtime is likely to be spent in their accommodation.
On-site accommodation can often be dusty and miserable to live in and can promote mental and physical health difficulties.
Rather than allow your workers to live in sub-par environments, you should consider searching for high-quality accommodation that can help them to rest and recuperate after their working.
You can do this by using companies such as Comfy Workers to find places for your team to live.
This will allow you to find accommodation close to your work premises that your contractors can easily get to.
3. Regular and Extended Breaks
It’s also important that you give your workers regular breaks, or else you might find that they become tired and are more at risk of injuring themselves.
They might also use these breaks to eat and stay hydrated, as well as put their feet up for a while.
You might also find that regular breaks encourage your employees to socialize with their colleagues, as well as get some exercise or get out into nature.
This could benefit their state of mind and physical well-being, as well as increase their engagement levels when they return to their shift.
4. A Safe Work Environment
This isn’t the end of what you can do for your team members, though. Business owners should also provide a safe work environment for their employees.
Not only will this allow them to focus on the job at hand, but a safe working environment can ensure that on-site injuries are minimized.
You should also find that a safe workplace reduces the number of work-related illnesses and health conditions that crop up, including vision loss, repetitive strain injuries, and back pain.
You can help your employees be safer at work by investing in comfortable and ergonomic seating for them, taking up loose wires, and by ensuring that equipment is unplugged and packed away when it’s not in use.
You could also start opening the windows after dusty work has been carried out and ensuring that any scaffolding that you put up is secure.
5. Health Benefits
You might already be thinking about giving your workers benefits such as extra days off and discounts for certain brands.
However, you should also think about the potential health-related benefits that you could provide for your employees.
For instance, you might decide to offer them health insurance and dental care, as well as a gym membership.
Some workplaces also give their workers the option of taking mental health days off, which they can use to spend time on self-care practices.
By doing this, you will be able to encourage your workers to look after their health and get to the bottom of any illnesses that they’re experiencing.
Worker health and wellness is important both for you and your staff.
Taking care of your employees will mean that you can attract the best talent and that the skilled team members that you currently have don’t move on or have to give up work due to illness.
Promoting worker health and wellness can also allow you to be an ethical and moral company that remains on the right side of many of the rules and regulations that are in place to protect the workers that are in your employment.
(Image by Jonathan White)
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