Are you a new employer? Then put some work into well-being at work

Having your own business involves a lot of things, from drawing up a sophisticated business plan to attracting your first customers. Do you also employ one or more people? Then it is essential – and legally required – to protect their well-being at work.

Commitment to well-being is not always easy for new employers. What exactly do you need to do? How do you do this in practice? These four tips and our start-up tool will help you get going.

1. Establish an internal prevention service

Each employer must set up an internal occupational health and safety service. There must be at least one health and safety officer (HSO). If you employ fewer than twenty people, you can hold this position yourself.

Your internal service has two essential tasks: correctly applying the Well-being at Work Act and implementing preventive measures. The service can also be responsible for medical supervision.

If you don’t have the required expertise in-house, you can call upon Mensura.

2. Have a company visit carried out

During a company visit, a Mensura HSO checks whether your company complies with the Well-being at Work Act. Depending on how you score, the HSO will give you any points for improvement. If necessary, the HSO will help you to work out a safety policy or rectify missing documents.

The internal HSO can draw up a risk analysis based on the company visit. It identifies the risks, determines their severity, and formulates measures to limit those risks.

3. Draw up a global prevention plan and annual action plan

Draw up a global prevention plan (GPP) based on the risk analysis. This includes all your prevention activities for the next five years. This results in an annual action plan (AAP) which contains the specific elaboration of your prevention measures for the coming working year. Your internal or external HSO will support you in this.

4. Implement the well-being policy and keep it up to date

Execute your plan and update it periodically. Well-being at work is never finished; modern technologies, new tools, and other challenges require an appropriate policy. This is the only way to ensure well-being at work and to reap the rewards thereof. After all, happy, healthy employees are the foundation for a flourishing organisation.