5 Tips for a Safe and Efficient Work Environment

Dixie Somers

August 09, 2016


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Often, creating an efficient office environment is a direct result of ensuring that you have a healthy and safe workplace. In addition to improving the work experience for your employees and making them more efficient, you can also reduce the chance of liability from workplace accidents. Below are five tips for creating a safer and more efficient work environment.

Introduce Standing at Work

Studies have demonstrated that sitting for hours at a time is terribly unhealthy, resulting in joint pain, tighter muscles and higher blood sugar levels. Unhealthy employees are more likely to miss work. This is why many companies are introducing stand-up desks. A stand-up desk can raise a person’s heart rate, with the result that an employee can stay more awake throughout the day. A treadmill desk is another option for even more energetic employees. It can increase the employee’s heart rate without interfering with their office efficiency or ability to speak on the phone.

Avoid Open Floor Plans

It’s a mistake to assume that the best design for your office is an open floor plan. While companies large and small have embraced open floor plans in recent years, many experts are questioning the efficiency of this idea. Not only does it encourage a lot of chatting unrelated to work, it also makes it difficult for your workers to block out all the noise and focus on what they are doing.

Create Work Zones

If you do choose to introduce an open floor plan to your workspace, you can make it more efficient by dividing it into work zones. Designate certain areas for certain types of work, as well as for different levels of interaction. Certain employees carrying out particular activities might need more interaction with others, while some carrying out other activities might want a bit quieter.

Provide Quiet Areas

Whether you’re using an open plan or cubicles, large projects with tight deadlines are often best carried out in private. This is why it’s a good idea to have one or more the rooms set aside away from the main office space. These areas can be used by workers who are focusing on some specific project.

Reduce Hazards

Any employer has to be concerned about office safety, given that a large number of work-related accidents occur in an office setting, with falls being the most common. There are several things you can do to reduce the chance of an accident in your office space.

Install skid-resistant carpeting and other surfaces to reduce the chance of slip-and-fall accidents.
Practice safe stacking by ensuring that items are stacked with the heaviest items on the bottom of the stack. Don’t stack to unreasonable heights or overload the carrying capacity of shelves.
Reduce trip hazards by practicing effective cable management. This can include cable baskets and cable ties designed to keep cables out of walkways.

Efficiency and safety are not contradictory ideas. A safer office is usually a much more efficient office. If you have questions about common employee ailments, consult a Boise workers compensation attorney. Maintaining the health and safety of your employees will provide you with higher efficiency, but it will also reduce the chance of financial liability or losses because of employee injuries.