Important Topics for Safety Meetings at the Workplace

Workplace safety is a grossly underestimated and underrated aspect in today's business organizations. While all the necessary equipment may be in place for use in the event of an emergency, the employees need to be kept up to date and well informed about 'how' to use said equipment and how to react in a potentially dangerous situation.

For this, you need to know what some good workplace safety meeting topics are. They'll help you to get all your employees together and well trained in safety and disaster management. This Workspirited article will share some such topics with you.

One of the most important topics that need to be discussed at a safety meeting in an organization is the fire safety of the office. This meeting could involve demonstration of the use of various fire safety equipment by professionals.

It can also have an interactive session in which employees can ask questions about the equipment to be used in the case of a fire. Also, a lecture on what are the steps to be followed and how to safely exit the building in case of a fire, needs to be discussed and held.

If you've already had a meeting about the various possible dangers and what to do in their event, then the next safety meeting that you hold with your employees can revolve around the actual training of the employees, in the use of the various safety equipment.

For instance, you can train the employees to use the fire extinguishers, to activate the security alarms, to alert the police in case of a robbery attempt, etc.

You can also brief them about what are the steps that they need to follow and what exactly they need to say to the emergency assistance people when they call them, in order to ensure that help reaches the office as quickly as possible.

Apart from just the training in the use of the safety equipment and tactics, the employees also need to have some first hand experience handling the equipment, so that they get a feel of it and are more confident of using them in case of an emergency.

For this, you can have mock fire drills, earthquake alerts for evacuation, staged armed robbery, a medical emergency etc. either by informing the employees about them or just surprise them with it to see how well they respond to the situation.

Another important topic that can be discussed at a safety meeting with the employees is an office safety checklist. Prior to the meeting, you can have a group of people assigned to various aspects of safety within the office. These people will devise a safety checklist for their assigned departments like electrical safety, housekeeping, ergonomics, etc.

Finally, combine all of these items and formulate an office safety checklist for the entire office. At the meeting, you can distribute copies of this checklist to all the employees and explain to them that they need to make sure that all the items mentioned need to be taken seriously. Clear any doubts that they may have and encourage them to ask questions.

These days, one does not really need to be in the vicinity to cause or experience an emergency. With the rapidly developing technological advancements, cyber crime can be as devastating as any other disaster.

So, having a meeting to discuss the importance of safety while using the Internet and the impact that overlooking safety measures can have, is a good topic of workplace safety.

You can also have meetings to discuss the protocol needed to be followed and the measures that need to be taken in case a natural disaster like an earthquake, cyclone, rainstorm, etc. occur.

The employees need to be briefed about what they should do in such cases and how to sustain themselves in the absence or shortage of electricity, water supply and other such basic amenities.

There are a lot of more workplace safety topics that can be discussed at meetings at your organization. These were just some basic guidelines. Remember, nothing should take precedence over workplace safety. After all, it is better to be safe than sorry, isn't it?