Is Yours A Safe Workplace?

Sometimes I get focused on leveraging our business for eternal return. It is easy for me to overlook the details of the business. If you own or lead a business with any number of employees, you likely have experienced something similar. However, we are responsible for running businesses of excellence. We cannot afford to overlook the basics for long. This includes a safe workplace!

Unusual Accusations

As a result of some turnover in our business recently, I have seen two out-of-the-ordinary accusations against us. While these accusations were certainly unusual for us, they are not uncommon in our industry.

As I have said before, we are not perfect. We do not claim to be so. At the same time, these accusations appear to have come from former disgruntled employees. Even so, left unaddressed they could lead to greater consequences for us.

Issues Addressed

Digging into each of them, we found one of them to be completely baseless.

Unfortunately, the other (and more serious) turned out to be partially true. This one concerned a safe workplace. The accusation indicated there was some equipment that was not 100% safe for use by our employees. As a result of the accusation and resulting inquiry, we identified two separate machines that needed some attention to be in proper working order.

Fortunately, the equipment did not fail or cause any injuries and can be replaced or repaired easily. Unfortunately, in my mind this is a mark against our pursuit of excellence and is something that could have been prevented with a little foresight and accountability.

Consider The Potential Consequences!

Imagine if these equipment issues had not been discovered at this point. Consider the eventual possibility of someone getting hurt due to their unsafe operation. How would that potentially impact their livelihood? How would it effect their family and anyone else dependent on them?

Beyond the possible injury and recovery, what are the additional ramifications? What would the employees think about our claim to run our business as God would have us to? What would customers think about our business? How would this impact our witness in the community?

Our Responsibility

Folks, thinking about strategy and ministry are critical parts of our job descriptions. Holding our teams accountable for revenue generation and expense control are also critical components of our jobs.

But if these are getting done while our equipment remains unsafe or our employees are working in less than adequate conditions, then we are failing in our jobs overall. These basics, like a safe workplace, are often taken for granted. However, they are the very issues that will destroy our witness for the Lord if we aren’t diligent in executing them.

Learn From The Situation

For my part, I am putting a couple of measures in place to make sure this does not happen again. I am also meeting face-to-face with each department leader to be certain they are clear on our philosophy regarding this issue. I cannot afford to allow us to slip back into this position again.

Have you looked at your equipment lately? Maybe you do not have heavy machines like we do, but I am sure you can draw the parallels to your business.

Safe Workplace Self Assessment

If your employees are on the road a lot, what are your policies about their sleep between trips? Over-the-road trucking companies have these guidelines, but other companies may overlook something like this.

Other issues to consider would be tripping or slipping hazards, electrical hazards, or unwelcome visitors in the workplace. Any of these can lead to injuries or trouble if left unaddressed. No, these are not the fun issues to tackle, but creating and maintaining a safe workplace is absolutely part of your responsibility as leader.

Determine that you are going to review your own company’s situation regarding a safe workplace and proper equipment maintenance. Engage your employees and team members in this effort. Put the proper processes in place to make sure you never find yourself having to explain why you did not do this. You will be glad you did!

Do you and your employees have a safe workplace?

Does everyone on your team see the necessity of having a safe workplace?

What, if anything, do you and your team need to address?