Part of living in Canada is dealing with the winter weather and all the dangers it can bring. As an employer, you are responsible for ensuring that your employees are safe when working for you, no matter what the weather may bring. Especially during inclement weather, getting to and from work – and performing appropriate employment duties – can be dangerous for your employees. Here are a few ways you can make sure your employees stay safe during a winter snowstorm.

Keeping the office building safe 

For your employees who need to come into the office during a snowstorm, you have certain responsibilities to ensure employees do not injure themselves coming into the office.

Making sure the office building is safe would include clearing sidewalks and parking lots of snow and ice. Numerous injuries happen every winter when employees are trying to get from their cars to the office because sidewalks and other walkways are not properly cleared.

Inside the office

Sometimes when floors get wet, they can be incredibly slippery, and with winter boots coming into the office – covered in snow and ice – those floors are going to get wet. Keeping general walkways cleared of water and having appropriate signs in place can help prevent any slips or falls inside the office.

Protecting outdoor workers

For many companies, their employees work outside all year – no matter the weather. Concerns like hypothermia and frostbite are common for those who work outside during the winter.

To ensure your employees do not suffer from these conditions, it’s important to ensure they have the proper clothing and protection. As an employer, you can provide them with a clothing allowance or ensure there are proper clothes available to the employee to use while on the job.

In some cases, the weather will just be too dangerous to work outside – no matter the clothing available to the employees. It’s important that the employer monitor the weather to see if it’s too dangerous to work outside at all. If that happens, employee safety must be prioritized, and they need to be sent home.

Implementing an inclement weather policy

If the weather is bad enough that your business must close, it’s the responsibility of the employer to notify all employees of the closure. With a policy in place, it can make the closing procedure go much smoother, and employees will know exactly what to do when the weather gets bad.

For those employees who can work from home, it may be encouraged for them to do so during bad weather, so they don’t have to be on the roads.

Your company’s policy should outline exactly what type of weather constitutes a closure, how the closure will be communicated to employees and how employees should contact their immediate supervisors to let them know if they can’t make it in to work due to the weather.

Contact TeksMed today

Ensuring the that the appropriate safety protocols are in place is essential for any business. Still, when an injury does occur on the job, it’s also important to have the right disability management and return-to-work programs in place. This is where TeksMed can help. Contact us today to learn more.