Effective occupational hygiene practices demonstrate a commitment to staff safety.

For businesses that are still operating onsite, the importance of compliant, safe occupational hygiene practices has never been more pertinent. Exposure to potentially hazardous elements can lead to a range of health problems in staff, significant downtime resulting in a profit loss and, depending on the severity of the illness, may significantly hurt a businesses overall reputation. That is why it is crucial that businesses provide their employees, clients, and guests with a compliant, hygienic work environment, where exposure to the elements is closely monitored, and does not exceed compliant levels. This article will discuss what occupational hygiene is, why it is so important to businesses, and what your company should be doing to ensure it maintains compliant occ. hygiene practices.

Occupational hygiene measures staff exposure

‘Occupational hygiene’ is the catch-all term used to describe the control measures that companies should be implementing to prevent their working environment causing staff to become ill. Effective occupational hygiene practices not only help businesses ensure that their onsite exposure levels remain compliant, it also ensures that management and staff are aware of their role and responsibilities when it comes to the development and promotion of a safe, compliant work premises.

By undergoing an occupational hygiene audit companies are working to identify, assess, and control a range of potential workplace hazards that stand to negatively impact employees. A comprehensive audit addresses a wide range of potential workplace risks, by measuring:

• Air quality testing: By measuring the level of airborne contaminant exposure within workplaces, businesses are protecting their staff from this pervasive occupational hygiene threat. An air quality audit gauges whether the worksite’s general atmosphere contains minute air particles which, upon breathing in, can potentially harm individuals. The harm is caused by inhaling dangerous air elements, such as steam and dust. An air quality audit will both assess whether the onsite exposure levels are meeting compliant standards, and provide the business with a clear action plan for controlling the elements in the future, ensuring they both meet and maintain their regulatory compliant obligations.
• Excessive noise exposure: Effective hearing is crucial for staff across many industries, as it helps keep them aware of their surroundings, alert to environmental changes, helps them communicate with their colleagues, and so on. However, worksites across Australia have a duty to ensure that onsite noise levels do not exceed compliant levels, and that staff are not exposed to dangerously high noises. Frequent exposure to loud noises can cause both temporary and permanent harm to individuals, ranging from short term hearing loss to complete deafness. Businesses should be both measuring the onsite noise levels and hearing abilities of staff over time, to determine whether they are meeting their regulatory obligations, and whether the hearing of staff has been affected since commencing their role.
• Lighting: An occupational hygiene audit can assess the business environment and make an evaluation about whether the provided lighting is appropriate for the worksite conditions. For example, excessively bright lighting can lead to several workplace risks, including glare, making objects difficult to focus on, eye strain, and so on. In contrast, dim lighting can make it difficult for staff to adequately view their surroundings, focus on their work duties, and can increase the risk of injury. An audit of the worksite’s lighting can determine whether it is appropriate for the working conditions, whether staff are able to work to the best of their ability, and advise businesses on what corrective action needs to take place, if the lighting is deemed to be inappropriate for the worksite.

A certified occupational hygienist provides peace of mind to businesses

An occupational hygiene audit of your worksite will see a certified occupational hygienist visit your workplace, under COVID-Safe conditions, to conduct a comprehensive audit of the effectiveness of your businesses existing occupational hygiene practices. They can then provide you with a clear action plan for what steps need to be taken to both achieve and maintain compliant practices across the board.

They will utilise their technical and industrial expertise to assess the occupational hygiene practices and conditions of your worksite and, throughout this process, help promote the safety of your businesses staff. The past 18 months has been extremely difficult for businesses, and by undergoing this process your company will be able to make things easier for its staff, management, and customers, by providing them with a reassurance that your businesses occupational hygiene practices are safe, compliant, and second-to-none. In a difficult business environment, this kind of guarantee can work at distinguishing an organisation from its competitors.

Contact our specialist consultants for more information

After reading this article you may be wanting to learn more about strong occupational hygiene practices, how your business can both meet and maintain them, and what your company should be doing to ensure all its occupational hygiene obligations are met.

Regardless of the size, industry, or working environment of your company, this is an issue that impacts all businesses, and one that all companies should work to get on top of. To find out more about effective occupational hygiene practices, and how they can be easily implemented across your operations, please contact our specialist consultants today by email at sales@anitechgroup.com or by phone on 1300 802 163, for a brief, obligation-free consultation.

By discussing the specifics of your business with them, including its industry, size, and scope, they will be able to explain to you how an occupational hygiene audit could specifically benefit your operations, how it could be conducted in a COVID-Safe, hassle-free manner, what your business should be doing to prepare for this, and so on. Doesn’t this sound like an effective strategy to help your business clean up?

Please click here to learn more about the direct relationship between strong occupational hygiene standards and safe, compliant workplaces.