Working at the workplace won’t always have security issues online but may even occur in real-life scenarios. Unfortunately, it’s even more common, primarily if you work in the construction, manufacturing, and transportation industry.
Moreover, even schools and offices have their dangers and the most important thing to do is to promote safety. Throughout history, we have seen many bad scenarios of what has occurred during a workplace, so shootings or even natural disasters are unavoidable most of the time. However, the only thing that may save us is being prepared for it as much as possible.
Furthermore, in this article, in order to stay as safe as possible, we will show you the top things you can do to improve security levels in your workspace.
7 things you should do to ensure workspace security
1. Establish entrance security
The first step to having a secure workspace is to ensure that entry points at the workspace are specific. This includes key-card entries, locked doors, and even cameras to ensure that intruders can be seen before they enter and even stop them entirely from entering. Unfortunately, most businesses will probably not take this seriously.
Moreover, many locking mechanisms can be used inside, ensuring that all doors are shut and no one can enter. Additionally, during a lockdown situation, this can help reduce casualties and help law enforcers track down attackers.
You can think of your workspace similar to when you go to a particular place such as an embassy or castle and can’t enter unless someone opens the door for you. Furthermore, this should be a similar case for you too. Make someone wait for a green pass to enter or give them a special card they can use for joining. Or even you can include a unique key code that only those who have an appointment can enter.
2. Establish a workplace safety culture
Establishing a safety culture is part of a general safety approach for an organization. It mixes efforts regarding individuals, groups, values, and the company’s safety program goals. Every form of leadership needs to be committed to workplace safety and ensure that the working environment is secure to work in. However, security also comes down to everyone in the working environment. Each individual needs to hold some accountability for their actions.
Companies promoting cultural safety need to demonstrate concern regarding their employee’s well-being and safety at the workplace. Thus, a safety culture must be in each department and hierarchy level. Your management level needs to monitor all facilities and ensure that they reinforce the company’s values and guidelines. After all, leadership is observing and promoting safety for all employees equally.
Managements that promote a safety culture assign safety measures to employees across all locations and departments. In many cases, this may be a safety manager or even an HR manager or associate. In short, it depends on the company’s budget and resources. Here are some tasks a safety manager should be ready to manage:
- Managing hazards and safety issues
- Paying vast attention to areas that need safety improvements
- Required training for improving safety routines
- Investigating any accidents made at the workplace
- Giving out safety incident reports
3. Comply with the CPRA and GDPR
The way we are using private data is changing, and it’s becoming a must to comply with privacy laws. Moreover, privacy laws directly impact security at the workplace as well. Depending on where you live, you have two gigantic privacy laws: the GDPR and the CPRA. The CPRA (California Privacy Rights Act) protects all Californian citizens’ private data and those who have businesses operating within Californian boundaries. Additionally, the GDPR accounts for all EU citizens and companies that operate within EU boundaries.
Not offering protection for private data will not only get you in trouble but will also lead you to pay a fine, and trust us, these fines aren’t small ones. In a way, this promotes security at the workplace since you are clear of any illegal acts, and even if you think about it carefully, you wouldn’t feel secure either to visit a site that doesn’t guarantee protecting your private data.
Overall, private data is a sensitive topic and contains information that no one should know about.
Note: You can read this guide to the CPRA to learn more about it.
4. Set up more security cameras
Many businesses continue to discuss whether or not they should install security cameras at the workspace. Even knowing that they have pros and cons, security cameras can provide an excellent layer of security for you and are a crucial line of defense for gaining visitors.
Moreover, a security camera will allow you to see threats before you even reach entry doors. Hence, it’ll give you enough time to be aware of a threat and call the police or take other agile actions. Security cameras can also act as employee management and inventory tools to know what employees are doing and even track them for any missing items.
However, you have to keep in mind that security cameras are effective when people monitor them. Therefore, you can enact against threats if there is no one to see who trespasses unless the security camera is programmed.
5. Don’t forget about online security
Cyber-attacks have been shared over the past few years and are increasing year by year. In fact, according to a study, 66% of people who participated in a survey about cybersecurity claimed that they had been attacked online with cybercrime. Moreover, they continuously challenge businesses and governmental agencies to increase online protection.
Cyber threats can not only damage you legally and financially, and they can cause many other hazards concerning private data and even feeling secure to work. Even if it harms you financially, these will cause many other consequences for your business and its safety culture. Keep in mind that you don’t need to see a criminal in front of your face for them to damage your business.
6. Use safety and health principles
Before you put together a safety program, it’s always a good idea to use safety and health principles. These are the factors that make the best of an excellent safety program. Here are a few principles you should consider using when building your safety program:
- Set up workplace safety policies and procedures that will ensure safety
- Leadership commitment that promotes safety
- Using risk assessment to ensure you are well aware of all risks
- Using risk control measures
- Asset management
- Monitoring of the safety program
- Having well-trained and prepared employees in case something occurs
7. Providing information concerning security protocols
Protecting your business at a higher level is necessary. This can be done by having an extra layer of strict security protocols that your employees can be well aware of. These should all be included in employee handbooks, monthly meetings, and more.
Protocols should be like laws, for example, mentioning areas that can’t be trespassed, “doors that should be closed,” stating areas that will only grant access with authorized use, and even mentioning situations that can lead to danger or how to react if something does occur. After all, it’s essential to ensure that all of your employees are aware of your workplace security.
Wrapping it up
Well, that’s about it for this article. These were our X things you can do to improve the security level at the workplace. Of course, strengthening your security level doesn’t always mean that you have to protect yourself from online attackers or physical ones, but this will count for each case scenario. An online attack can sometimes do just as much damage as a physical one. However, it would help if you keep your eye out for both.
Overall, it’s always important to keep a lookout for potential threats. After all, we do know that the world has changed a lot after the beginning of the pandemic and has made many people shift to work remotely instead of being at the office every day. Remote work may even be more common in the future and may require us to start learning how we can implement these safety measures in our own homes.
Therefore, see what you can do to ensure that your business is protected at the maximum level, whether it is online or remotely. An online attack can do a vast amount of damage and a physical one may cause traumatic events that can make employees never feel like themselves again. In the end, it’s important you are prepared and have your team do the same!