Prior to the setup of new premises, whether that be for distribution, storage or warehousing, it’s important you have the right processes and steps in place to protect you and your employees. With the right occupational health plan in place, you can be sure you’re fully prepared for the move, to help you to reduce problems you might face down the line.
Hiring employees is both a costly and time-consuming process, therefore you want to make sure that you’re hiring employees that are fit to carry out the job safely, and in accordance with guidelines. Drug and alcohol misuse in the workplace results in increased accidents, higher rates of absenteeism and also results in overall decreased productivity – and these risks are only heightened in warehouse and distribution settings.
Before your premises move, ensure you have the right drug and alcohol policies in place to protect you and your employees. David Barber Occupational Health can help with the creation of these policies, as well as pre-employment drug and alcohol screening of employees, to make sure your candidates are fit for the job. This is increasingly important for safety-critical positions, where accidents due to lack of concentration or intoxication can cause major accidents and compromises to health and safety on site. Find out more about our specialist drug and alcohol testing service here.
As recognised by the Health & Surveillance Executive, Face Fit testing is in place to make sure that your employees have the properly-fitted respiratory protective equipment they need to protect them in the workplace. Warehouses that are not properly ventilated pose risks to your employees – protect them from illness and injury by providing them with adequate respiratory protection.
Our experienced team at David Barber Occupation Health know exactly what is required of your organisation when it comes to RPE, and we know how to keep your team and business protected. During the initial selection stage of candidates is naturally the most proactive time to carry out face fit testing, so that you can make sure that your employees an adequate choice of RPE masks and models. Get prepared early so that you are working as productively as possible, and are working in line with legal requirements. Read more on our Face Fit Testing service here.
The HSE states that when exposing employees to hazards, this involves noise or vibrations, fumes, dust and solvents – it is your responsibility to reduce these risks as far as possible. Our occupational health team comes in at an early stage to most effectively detect and manage the risks in your environment, and highlight any areas where particular measures need to put in place to protect you and your team.
Our job is to highlight any areas where particular measures need to be put in place to reduce the risk to your employees, this could even be making sure all your employees are educated across a range of regulations and laws (which can help protect you later down the line). It’s likely you’ll have forklift drivers, mobile plant or company drivers on site; make sure they’re protected according to the mobile plant regulations. It’s reported around 1,300 UK employees are hospitalised each year with serious injuries following forklift accidents – don’t fall into that statistic. See more about our Health Surveillance service here.
When your employees are absent from work it can have a range of costly implications, from lost productivity to hiring agency workers covering the absence. Look to keep your employees healthy and at work by having a proactive management approach to employee absence.
Proactive absence management is about putting the steps in place to plan for the absence and helping to ensure a smoother return to work. This can apply across short-term sickness, repeated short-term sickness or long-term sickness, naturally the policies to deal with this will differ from case to case but having the policies in place is already allowing you to work more productively. This could be as simple as having an interview procedure in place, taking a look at your working conditions and working culture as well as thinking about shift patterns you have in place. How could any of these be managed to prevent unnecessary absences occurring?
On the other hand, a reactive absence management plan takes place after an absence occurs. It is commonly seen with longer-term absences and involves coming up with a plan to help introduce the employee back to work. This is unproductive for you as a business and can be unsettling for an employee, as it makes it more difficult to know in advance when the employee will be ready to return to work. Ensure you get prepared before your move with a proactive management approach and plan in place – stay productive. You can see more on our sickness absence management plans here.
Our highly experienced team will work with you to decide which services are most appropriate for your business so that you have an occupational health plan in place to ensure you comply with legislation and protect your employees. Be proactive – rather than reactive by getting in touch today.
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