Dynamic Health & Safety Practices

Are we healthy? Are we safe? Are we both healthy & safe? Are we healthy & safe on the go?

Being healthy and staying safe are two BIG blessings that make humans actually capable of what they are capable of! The importance of having a healthy body & mind and living in a safe environment might be ignored when there is; however, even a minute deviation can actually disturb you a great deal!! One day of unhealthiness can shake the health that we maintained for months. One minute of unsafeness can shake your heartbeat and make you feel unstable and insecure for quite some time.  

While taking care of self, looking after self health, and being cautious of your safety are a few things we must do for ourselves, we will take a slightly different direction for this blog piece. 

Working Professional?

Safety & Health at the Workplace

As working professionals, we spend a great deal of our day at our workplace. Hence, our work contributes significantly to the health and environment that we endure. 

It becomes the indispensable role of an organization to make all possible efforts to ensure the working environment is healthy and safe for its employees. 

For this, there is the SHE policy, under which an organization

• Actively pursues Safety, Health, and Environment as an integral part of its business and operations,
• Strives to prevent and minimize the environmental impact of its activities and products,
• Maintains a safe workplace environment for its employees, contractors, visitors, and local community,
• Promotes health and wellbeing,
• Encourages employees through trainings to contribute to a safer environment at work, at home, and in the community,
• Ensures that all facilities and functions are governed by the more efficient use of material and energy, the substitution of hazardous materials where feasible, and the optimization & recycling of materials, and 
• Complies with all applicable legal requirements through Continual Improvement in the Safety, Health & Environment Measures.

Besides these fundamentals, some very basic initiatives can define the course of health and safety of employees in a workplace. 

Health

• Having basic medical facilities at the office premises, including first aid & other OTC aids, availability of doctor(s), nursing staff, ambulance, and provision of dormitories or some format of rest areas.
• Provision of an apt number of medical leaves for the employees.
• Employer or immediate heads to be approachable for the employees to openly and directly discuss any health-related issues.
• Provision of appropriate facilities as per the circumstances. For instance, current situations demand the installation of hand sanitizers and disinfectants (these should now anyway be a mandate) at various points in the office, availability of face masks, etc. 
• Having a few activities to promote the emotional and mental well-being of the employees.
• Promoting some team-building activities or discussions to encourage the social health of employees.

Safety

• Ensuring the buildings, rooms, parking areas, kitchens, and any & all areas within and adjoining the office premises are safety-proofed. 
• Providing various safety-related trainings to the employees.
• Regular audits of all the equipments, machineries installed, and every nook and corner of the workplace to ensure the intactness of the place.
• Relevant contact numbers (fire safety, engineering, electricity, etc.) to be updated at various places across the workplace.

Stay Healthy & Safe 24×7!

Avani Raj Arora