Starting your own business is a challenge. From the planning to daily operations, you will face difficulties and obstacles. Especially because we live in a world with real challenges and threats, we need to stay grounded and realistic. Keeping your business safe is obviously a priority, and it involves a lot of planning and preparation.
Adhering to local occupational safety laws is a must, as it ensures that your employees and clients are safe from potential hazards that may occur. Following OSHA protocol is a necessary step in ensuring this, but going above and beyond by doing extra work to ensure a holistic sense of safety is also important.
What Are the Dangers a Small Business Might Face?
The word ‘danger’ or ‘hazard’ have such negative connotations, but they’re often vague in meaning. What are we really protecting our business from, and how do we plan against them?
The physical sense of safety is a common priority, but there are many layers to what makes a business ‘safe’. A business needs protection in several ways, including (but not limited to): potential cybersecurity threats to your data, employee protection, and financial setbacks. Once you’ve understood that many unforeseen circumstances can affect how you run your business, you’ll be more prepared to face them.
Protect Your Business from Physical Security Threats
We’ve all seen it in movies, malicious people with bad intent break into businesses and steal whatever valuables they may have. Even in the 21st century, this is still a common concern for many business owners, especially those who stay in areas with a relatively high crime rate.
Install Security Cameras
At this point, everyone is familiar with the concept of security cameras. We may have a security system installed in our house, our building may have one as well. But for your business, it’s absolutely imperative to install security cameras to keep the workplace safe.
Security cameras serve two functions: as a tool for investigation, and a way to deter crime. The importance of having a surveillance system for investigations could not be overstated, as if a crime does happen, you want evidence and a way to track the perpetrators. But aside from this, visible security cameras also act as a deterrent. A study has shown that installing security camera systems can drop a city’s crime rate by over 50%.
Hire Only Trustworthy People
A trustworthy employee is an irreplaceable asset. They will help you grow your business and can provide helpful insights. Nothing puts a business owner more at ease than an employee that can be trusted with major responsibilities. This means being a bit stricter in the hiring process, as the last thing you want is hiring a threat.
The interview process is a crucial aspect of finding good and reliable employees. Take your time going over their resume, look at their professional history, and asking questions that are important to you and your company. It helps to have a dependable employment agency to help you find a good employee to add to your company. There’s no one method to ensure that you can find the ideal employee. Hiring someone is inevitably a ‘find out as you go’ experience, but that’s why you need to be extra careful at the start.
Never Neglect Safety Alarms and Protocols
Most office buildings have safety systems installed. You might have smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, and other safety features pre-installed already. However, make a personal decision if these detectors are generous enough to cover all areas. If you think you need more (especially to assuage everyone’s concern for safety), check with the building’s management if you can have more installed.
Make it a habit to test these alarms as well, as they might have gone broken after misuse. Replace the batteries of the alarms if they haven’t been changed in a while, and we don’t be stingy with placing fire extinguishers around. Lastly, it helps to have the hotline of safety departments in an area that’s easily accessible, for example, besides the company phone. This ensures that you are prepared for any situations and you have contingencies in place.
Protect Your Business from Cyber Security Threats
The 21st century has also introduced a new form of criminal activity: hacking. Many small businesses have already suffered attacks on the virtual end of things, and as a society depends more and more on technology, arming your business with safety measures against cyber attacks is even more necessary.
Most of our data is stored on the Internet, and while it may feel like that safety is not in our hands this way, there still actions you can do to make it safe. You can being by utilizing antivirus software to protect your system from spyware and phishing scams. You also need to train your employees to protect company data. Keeping your software update also helps in making everything safer, as newer software is often strengthened to fight against hackers.
