Safety at Work in the Winter

All throughout the year, it is crucial to ensure the safety of your workplace. Winter does provide some additional difficulties, though, and some of the potential occurrences may not seem to be under your purview. There are many mishaps that can happen throughout the winter, from trips and falls on ice-covered surfaces to dark, poorly lighted regions. To assist prevent injuries to your employees and any potential customers, your company should strive to reduce as many winter risks as you can. Your employees may respond differently at work due to a lack of training, which could put them at risk. Learn more about some of the typical threats that exist within and outside of your business, as well as what you can do to assist make the places safer, by reading the information below.

Risks External to Your Business

In the winter, outdoor dangers are more frequent for businesses than inside ones, and this is also the area where they are most likely to make mistakes. The majority of hazards are brought on by ice and wet weather, and some of the most frequent ones to occur are:

• locations that have frozen over, like parking lots and walkways
• ice on the road and surrounding parking lots
• Wet leaves that have accumulated can make surfaces slick or conceal deteriorated asphalt.
• Verges that employees drive or cross could become slick or clogged
• Poor illumination could make it challenging for personnel to maneuver across areas in the morning and at night.

How to Handle External Hazards

While it’s impossible to completely remove risks outside of the workplace—especially with the unpredictable nature of weather—you should always try to minimize risks for your staff and guests. You can take a number of measures to lessen the dangers associated with outdoor winter activities, including:

• Maintain gritting in locations like your parking lot to prevent slippery surfaces.
• Keep obstructions like a buildup of leaves off of paths.
• Put up cautionary tape or cones if you think it’s too risky.
• Install new or better lighting in dark regions outside your building. 
• Fit a cover over the entranceway to ensure an area is always maintained clear of weather conditions. Block off sections that people shouldn’t be using.

Simple measures like those mentioned above can help to demonstrate that you are following best practices for winter health and safety. This means you are less likely to experience any consequences in the form of responsibility litigation should any accidents occur. Additionally, ensuring that staff members complete training programs like NEBOSH and IOSH will help to lower risks.

Increasing Your Knowledge of Health and Safety

We can assist if you run a business and wish to increase your understanding of health and safety. Ahlan Safety  Wise Global Training provides a variety of health and safety training programs that can help you increase your knowledge and, in turn, keep your workplace and employees safe all year long. Please don’t hesitate to contact us for additional information or to discuss our courses in greater detail. A member of our staff is available at all times to respond to inquiries and to questions.