Staying Safe Over The Festive Period!

The festive period is well and truly upon us, and within your business, there are a few things you should be keeping a check on to ensure that your employees remain safe whilst at work. There are a few internal and external risk factors that could impact your business productivity quite easily, as well as having the potential to harm your business from a legal and financial perspective if your health and safety legislation is not up to date.

Recognise the risks that the festive period can bring with these tips.

Office Parties

Now, we don’t want you to think we’re being party pooper’s or anything, but office parties can produce their fair share of problems for businesses (and we aren’t just talking about the potential budding office romances here). Knowing your limits over the festive period can prevent employees from not only endangering their own and other’s lives, but it can also stop any loss of productivity from employees over-doing it over the Christmas period. With so many social events at this time of year, office parties, client dinners, drinks with friends etc. it’s easy to get carried away and not realise how much alcohol might have been consumed.

Ensuring employees understand the risks that alcohol present, not only during the festivities but also the following morning will help to prevent any accidents as well as loss of productivity.

Weather Risks

Here in the UK, the weather can be unpredictable at best, it’s important to ensure that as a business you are well prepared for whatever the weather has to throw at you, especially in the colder months. Snow and ice are a huge risk to businesses, having essential products including salt, grit and snow shovels on hand can ensure that your car park and pathways around your business remain clear, preventing the possibility of trips and slips from happening, as well as ensuring there is a safe place for your employees to park their cars and drive away safely.

Ensuring the right procedures are in place for wet weather as well as snow and ice being present will prevent any accidents, and keeping your employees up to date will keep productivity levels high.

Staying Healthy

Not only are there the obvious risks of colds, flu’s etc. making their way around your staff, but there are winter-related illnesses such as norovirus and the winter vomiting bug that could easily be transmitted around too. Promoting simple hygiene throughout the office environment is one key way of ensuring you help to prevent the spread of germs, i.e. hand washing, using tissues and even having hand sanitiser available for employees to use will limit the number of germs present in the office, killing the viruses before they can infect the office.

Germs are easily spread across keyboards, desks, and communal items such as the products in the kitchen; ensure you have a clean cupboard well stocked that will help you to promote a clean desk policy as well as any spread of germs around the kitchen.

Stress Management

Christmas is a stressful time of year for people, therefore taking into consideration stress in the workplace and how to manage risks within this can keep your employees feeling festive throughout the Christmas period. It can be easy to feel isolated at this time of year so it’s important to allow your employees to feel like they have someone to talk to and a place they can go, such as a breakout area, if they might feel their work is getting on top of them throughout the day.

*This is a collaborative post.