Start Up Safety Lessons

When setting up a business, you have so many plates to spin that one of the last things on your mind is workplace safety.  Yet, if you neglect this area, your business could be over before it begins with a hefty lawsuit or lack of compliance killing your startup before it’s had chance to spread its wings and fly.
That said, you don’t need a master of public safety to sleep well at night; there are some simple things you can do to keep your workplace and business safe, many of which are merely common sense based principles.

1. MAKE PEOPLE AWARE

Just like you have the responsibility to take care of your employees, your employees should be taking care of your business. Incorporate security into your regular meetings. Educate your staff on common security threats and how they can be neutralised.  Security threats are even more threatening if there's no education around them. Most security breaches happen as staff members become complacent. Bringing them up in meetings can remind your staff.

2. KEEP YOUR PROPERTY SECURE

This might seem like an obvious one but make sure the doors and windows are securely locked at night. You will be surprised how many employees forget to do this so perhaps leave a tick box checklist for employees to tick and sign at the end of the day. Also advise employees to lock themselves in a building when working out of hours.
Make sure you invest in good locks. This will deter people looking to break in as they want an easy target. Be careful you only give a key to employees who you trust and try and invest in a locking system which requires permission for additional keys to be cut.

3. HAVE AN ALARM

Having an alarm system is a great investment as it deters as well as alerts. Have plenty of signs to warn potential burglar that you have an alarm.  Make sure you choose a good quality alarm system with a motion detector.
No need to worry about changing the code each time an employee leaves. Purchase an alarm panel  that uses unique passwords for each person meaning you can easily delete their codes. No one likes a disgruntled ex-employee with an alarm code..

4. GET GOOD INSURANCE

If your business has a physical premises then you need to protect it. Unforeseen circumstances like theft or weather damage can be costly. A decent business insurance policy can protect it from this having to find the money for repairs.
Additionally as well as the actual bricks and mortar, you need to protect customers and staff members in terms of safety equipment, because whilst insurance is an important thing to have in place should an accident happen – prevention is better than cure.
Of course, you could claim on your public liability insurance, but it’s worth taking a second look at the small print of your policies, which likely include workers’ compensation, general liability insurance, errors and omissions, cyber liability, directors and officers and employment practices liability.

5. PROTECT YOUR DATA WITH THE CLOUD

Protecting your written data is extremely important and sometimes just as important as your physical property, depending on your business. Think about using a cloud backup or cloud storage application such as Google Drive or Dropbox.  The cloud backup can store, encrypt and restore earlier versions of important files.