Starting a new job can be an exciting and nervous time, but provided you go through the correct protocol, settle in well and put your head down to work with competence, you should adapt in no time. A big new office environment with many new faces can seem quite intensive at first, but before you know it, you’ll be on a first-name basis with most of the people there.

Yet before we can settle in and let our guard down a little, it’s always important to be observant and make sure that this company does things by the book. This is especially important when it comes to the safety protocols in place. Even if you have a fairly simple office job, safety applies to your general wellbeing in the office more than you may expect. 

From competent fire drills undertaken semi-regularly, to equipment provided, consider these checks to ensure your business is dotting every ‘I’ and crossing every ‘T’ when it comes to safety compliance. If not, you may have found a sign that cutting corners is a common tactic:

Appropriate Vehicle Maintenance & Sourcing

When it comes to providing workplace vehicles, it’s important that the company is planning with essential compliance and ensuring the quality of such vehicles including their state of repair ahead of time. They often achieve this by utilizing the best car lease offers, and asking for records based on the supplier should you accept a temporary company car is key. It can also be a good idea to ask how this process is managed during your onboarding questions.

Safety Equipment Care

Safety equipment is useless if it isn’t regularly inspected, maintained, and even cleaned where appropriate. It’s important not to beat around the bush and recognize that this effort saves lives, and must be kept up within a disciplined fashion. Making sure you’re aware of the policy and ensuring all safety equipment is properly managed ahead of time can prevent you from being caught unaware – as can assessing the communication line for reporting errors and how quickly they’re attended to. Any problems here may unveil a desperately dangerous inflexibility that needs immediate attention going forward. Often, refusing to interface with a given task unless the proper provisions are supplied is the height of professional integrity.

A Full Health & Safety Briefing & Tour

During your onboarding approach, you must be given a full premises tour and health and safety brief, including a detailed look at the most essential practices you should keep up with. If you haven’t been properly briefed, it could be that you’re in your right to push a claim. Make sure you document exactly what materials you’re given in this light, as well as discuss with other staff how their health and safety briefings took place – or if they even did at all. This can be the clearest indication that a satisfactory or limited approach to health and safety is considered.

With this advice, you’re sure to expect and identify the essential safety standards a workplace should be offering.