It can be tricky for a business owner to balance product quality, concern for employees, and a strict budget. This can be especially difficult when profits are low and budgetary restraints try to prevent you from giving your products and workers the consideration they deserve. You may wonder how you can continue to improve employee safety when you don't have much money to throw at it. But you don't have to start expensive initiatives or install the latest trendy safety products to keep improving workplace safety. As long as you've already invested in the necessary equipment and upgrades to meet OSHA requirements, you can spend some time focusing on employee awareness and education, using these budget-friendly ideas to ensure that your workplace safety doesn't slack off just because business isn't booming.

1. Employee training and education

You may have employees who've been working faithfully for you for years. Consider whether they would benefit from additional safety training or from refresher training in areas they've received training in previously. Even if a particular type of training isn't required to be administered repeatedly (or a repeat training isn't quite due yet), having employees do the training now, rather than after business has picked up again and you can't spare the time as easily, is an efficient way to develop workplace safety. You may also consider taking this opportunity to have more of your employees get trained in first aid. Additionally, training current employees in new tasks can be safer and more effective when done during a slow period, so take the time to think about whether you want to transfer any workers to new tasks in the near future.

2. Signs and posters

Even if you teach your employees all the safety rules during training and remind them during meetings, it can be easy for them to forget one or two rules during their day-to-day work and thus fail to implement a safety rule that may be crucial to their job. Use signs and posters throughout the workplace as visual aids so employees can easily recall applicable safety procedures during each task they perform.

3. Support an accountability culture

Your personal example can have a big influence on whether employees bother to actually use personal protective equipment and other safety tools. If you're conscientious about following your own high standards of safety, workers will realize that you do care about the rules. You can also encourage employees to remind you if you forget one of these important precautions and to remind one another whenever necessary as well. 

Use these three tips to maximize the safety awareness and education of your employees. These are all inexpensive steps (setting a good example is free, and you can even download free safety-themed posters from the OSHA website). Implementing them during a period of tight budgeting for your company can help you not only avoid an atrophying workplace safety situation, but also turn the situation on its head by taking the time to foster even greater awareness of and respect for safety practices.

If there is an accident at your workplace, contact a workers compensation attorney at Hardee and Hardee LLP or a similar firm.