No matter what type of business you own, your customers are its very lifeblood. You can’t have revenue if there is nobody to buy your product. The last thing you want to do is put your customers in harm’s way. They could get injured or have their property damaged, but they also probably won’t want to frequent your business again if they’ve had a negative experience.
On top of that, if your business is seen as a safety hazard by customers, they will quickly walk out the door as soon as they walk in. You need to take steps to ensure the safety of everyone who comes into contact with your company, but it can be hard to figure out how to do that. Here are some tips to help business owners keep customers safe.
Develop a Culture of Safety
You don’t want your staff taking the safety of your customers for granted. You need to implement safety policies that are strict and that have actual repercussions for not being followed. For example, if someone mops the floor, they must place down a wet floor sign and not use excessive water. Your employees should always be mindful of their surroundings and be proactive in removing hazards, such as loose cords, open drawers, and cupboards, or exposed electrical outlets, for just a few examples. With firm expectations and a strong policy, you can ensure that your business is safe for everyone.
Talk to Your Local Health Authority
If you are looking for ways to make things safer at your workplace, talk to your local health authority. They should have many different departments that work with many kinds of health and safety risks. They can inspect your premises and point out any hazards you might have missed. Sometimes you don’t realize that something is unsafe unless a professional points it out. Never take for granted that your business is entirely safe simply because it looks like it is to you. Your health authority will give you great tips and advice to make your space as safe as possible.
Sanitation
When Covid 19 first hit, many businesses took steps to ensure that their spaces were sanitized. Grocery stores wiped down belts after use, clinics had “used pens” buckets to make sure to clean them, and restaurants stepped up how often they cleaned their restrooms. While the dangers of Covid-19 seem to be waning, that doesn’t mean that there weren’t some suitable lessons about cleanliness.
Because of the experience over the past several years, customers have come to expect sanitary businesses. If you are lax on your standards, then they will notice. Make sure that you continue to sanitize and clean your public spaces regularly, even if you don’t do it as often as you did during the height of the pandemic. Continue to use any opportunity for no-touch or limited-touch service, as customers will appreciate the efforts to keep them safe and healthy. There will always be viruses and germs to fight, and there’s no reason your workplace has to spread them.
Air Filtration
Another important lesson from the pandemic is that it must be clean with the air being such a common disease vector. Proper air filtration, especially in a smaller space, will help prevent spreading diseases and keep your customers’ lungs healthy. Not only that, but in some businesses, customers can tell when there is damp or stale air. So make sure that you have strong filters installed in your HVAC system to clean out dirt and potentially smelly air and replace it with air that’s clean and fresh.
Insurance
Of course, you should always try to prevent dangerous situations. However, on the off chance that something does happen, you must have insurance in place to protect everyone involved. General liability insurance will protect your business from the total costs of defending yourself against a personal injury claim. It can also help with compensation for any damages that are awarded to the complainant. It also protects the injured party. There is no reason that they should have to suffer with medical bills and lost wages if you were negligent. Insurance makes sure that you have the funds to cover it. Every business should have it, so get a general business insurance quote right away and protect you and your customers.
Data Protection
Not all harm is physical. If you store customer data, you are at risk of a data breach that could cause serious damage to them. They could end up the victims of identity theft or simply suffer embarrassment due to the leak. Ensure that you and your employees use strong passwords for all of their portals. When an employee leaves, deactivate their passwords and usernames immediately so they can’t use them. If you are able, implement two-factor authorization for any access.
Provide training to your employees about suspicious emails and how phishing scams work. Emails are a very common method for launching cyber attacks. Unfortunately, there are more and more each year, so it’s never been more critical to ensure that data, and in turn, your customers, are safe.
Take Feedback
If customers and employees tell you that something feels unsafe, listen to them. They have a different perspective and may have caught something you missed. Additionally, never roll your eyes or assume that something is so unlikely that it’s not worth worrying about. Rare occurrences happen, and you don’t want a customer or your business to suffer because you failed to act on a suggestion.
Safety should be an essential part of your business, whether or not you have regular customer visits. However, too many companies don’t take the time to truly make sure their workplace is safe. Use these tips to analyze your workplace to make sure that there are very few or no risks at all for your customers. That way, you can protect them from harm and protect your business from the costs and reputational damage of an injury.
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