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Why Focus on Employee Safety?

Mechanic team working in car workshopWhy is focusing on employee safety so important for successful auto shops? Because having employees who feel and are valued and establishing an atmosphere of safety within your shop is crucial to any business that wants to attract a good clientele. Your employees will notice if conditions are poor, and the ones with better skills and better options will leave. Your customers will also notice a poorly kept environment or slipshod work standards, and they will make a similar decision.

Given this, what specifically should your business do to improve employee safety?

Have an accident prevention program in place. This includes both formal safety training and site inspection to eliminate accidents before they happen. Auto repair is a physical job as anyone who has ever been in an auto shop can tell you. Auto techs have to lift heavy equipment, they operate vehicle lifts, they grind and weld materials. In the course of a single day they work with a wide variety of toxic chemicals and electrical components, and they continually walk over floors that have been exposed to spills and changing temperatures or elements. Your employees will be aware of these dangers, but they may not have made a practice of what routines or behaviors to incorporate into their work in order to maintain safety in the shop. This kind of training is essential. Encouraging employees to complete certification programs in specific types of safety is also advised.

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Provide the appropriate safety equipment. Whether this is safety goggles, masks, gloves, footwear, or proper signage and instructions, your employees should have it at hand and know how to use it properly.

Discourage distractedness. Whether this means establishing a drug-free zone at your shop or putting strict limits on workers’ abilities to be online or use their cellphones while working, it’s important to insist that while your employees are at work, they are fully aware and paying attention.

Invest in appropriate workers’ compensation insurance. This will help your workers because it means that in case of accident, the funds will be there to help them get the treatment they need to get better. It will also limit your business’s liability in case of an accident.

Choosing to ignore risks to your employees is a gamble you do not want to take, but focusing on the safety and well being of your workers is a longer-term strategy good managers use to build a more productive atmosphere that makes both reliable employees and reliable customers want to seek out your auto shop.

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