Safety is a broad term, but what does it really mean in the corporate sphere? If you own or manage a large office environment safe space, it’s your responsibility to safeguard not only the wellbeing of your employees but the integrity of your building, systems, and confidential data too.
Keeping your office in good shape is a long-term commitment that helps you to protect your company’s productivity and profitability too. No matter the size of your premises, it’s always worth knowing some of the most effective steps towards securing your office environment safe space.
Securing your office in five simple steps
Assess your premises
Firstly, assessing the condition of your premises before you open it to your colleagues is imperative. When you sign a lease agreement, the property might not be in the appropriate condition for daily working operations.
If that’s the case, you should see to sorting out the most essential maintenance as soon as possible. Thinking of employee comfort and convenience should be your priority. For example, ensuring that water pumps are fitted will allow you to provide clean, cold drinking water. You should aim to have at least one dispenser on each floor.
Heating, air conditioning, and air purifying technologies should also be considered.
Ensure appropriate safety measures
Protecting the physical safety of your employees and their office environment safe space is also critical. External security measures like CCTV and keycard access gates make a valuable contribution, reducing the chances of imposters entering your building.
If your security measures are breached and an unknown person enters your protected office space, the consequences could be dire for your business. Always try to invest in the highest possible quality of security gates to protect not only your employees but the sensitive data they deal with too.
Conduct risk assessments
Undertaking regular risk assessments is an important step in drawing up a comprehensive office safety plan. You can achieve this either independently or with the assistance of safety consultants, who could provide invaluable insight on long-term strategies.
Work with a template that complements your office context and layout. Focus on the lighting areas, security of the devices used by your team, and the surveillance and alarm systems too. Above all, your workplace fire safety guidelines and emergency procedures should be clearly outlined and implemented.
Operate a whistleblowing policy
Unfortunately, there’s a chance that fraudulent or suspicious behaviour could occur within the four walls of your office space. In 2022 to 2023 alone, there were over 6,500 thefts by an employee reported in England and Wales.
Always encourage your team members to speak up if they notice anything that doesn’t look right. You should provide anonymous and secure lines of communication to enable staff to report anything they might be concerned about.
Provide full staff support
Lastly, your staff need to know that you’re there to defend their physical and mental health. Either through their line manager or human resources department, you should provide a thorough and secure support network for each member of the team. Your employees, and therefore your company, will only thrive in security.