The importance of planning work activities
Posted on 26th Sep, 2016 | By Lorretta Tatham
Jumping into a project is never a good idea. Before embarking on a project – whether it’s a restoration project or restructuring processes in a warehouse, it’s important to fully grasp the nature of the work. By analysing and thoroughly planning work you can safeguard against hazards and risks.
5 reasons to plan work activities
- To understand the nature of the work
When you understand a project as a whole and what’s required to complete it in terms of equipment, time and resourcing, you can take a considered approach. Health and safety is considered and a step-by-step approach taken to ensure optimum safety at work.
- To eliminate or reduce risk
When planning any work activity, it’s important to consider the risks. A risk assessment helps you to understand what aspects of a task may cause harm to people and how you can minimise that harm.
The HSE advise you to consider:
- What can harm people in the workplace
- Who might be harmed and how
- Appropriate controls than need to be put in place
Once you’ve completed your risk assessment, you’ll also need to record all your findings and be prepared to review and update as time goes on.
- To ensure the right employees are assigned to the work
When planning a project, it’s important to put together the right team of people to undertake the work. Choose employees that are brand new to the business, under qualified, or suffering from illness and injury and you may be putting them at risk.
If the project has a manual handling aspect, make sure that employees are capable of moving and lifting loads. Employees should also be adequately trained in this subject. If they aren’t, why not sign them up to our Manual Handling Training Course?
Likewise, if the job requires the use of any particular electrical item or access product, it’s important to pick adequately trained staff. Courses like our Working at Height Training and Abrasive Wheels Training may come in handy if relevant to the work and your trade.
You can view our whole range of work safety training courses online.
- To ensure adequate safety strategies
Once you’ve analysed the work and put together a team, it’s important that all safety mechanisms are put in place. As an employer, you should also ensure good communication with your team and make sure all team members are aware of risks and safety strategies.
Safety strategies are essential when it’s impossible to eliminate a risk or avoid a certain task. They help keep employees safe in situations that could be dangerous and are completely dependent on the type of work and job
Safety strategies might include the use of PPE – for example, hard hats, safety goggles, harnesses and lanyards. You can learn more about use of Harnesses & Lanyards on our Training Course page.
- To develop a framework for monitoring and controlling the work
Planning your work also ensures that there is a framework in place to monitor and control the work. This helps keep employees on track for the duration of the task and makes health and safety a priority.
Furthermore, should an accident happen, the framework can be updated with any learnings. This will help to prevent accidents like this happening time and time again.
We also offer specialist training here at Brown Safety Services, including the UKATAT Asbestos Awareness Training Course.
What other steps do you ensure you take when planning work activities? Tell us in the comments below or tweet us @Brownssafety
