There are many risks involved in doing business. One of the biggest risks is letting the small things get out of hand. Here are a few areas where small changes can mean big disasters if left unchecked.

1. You have higher than average employee turnover.

If you have an increase in the number of employees leaving you may have an issue at HR. There may be a misunderstanding about the type of person needed for a specific job. If HR is hiring the wrong people they may not be able to do the work and are at risk of injury.

2. You have increased the number of part-time employees.

Part-time employees get a shorter training period. Because they are doing the job for less time it takes them longer to get acclimated to job duties. This longer period of inexperience has a high risk of injury.

3. You have lost several long-term employees.

You’ve lost experienced workers. Either they have been injured and can no longer perform the job, or have simply left.

Loss of long-term employees means taking a hit on productivity until new hires can be trained up to the correct level. It may indicate an issue with the job/workplace that needs to be addressed. New hires are at high risk of injury due to inexperience. Losing experienced employees means less experienced workers are training new hires.

4. You are behind on building maintenance tasks.

Dripping taps, burnt out light-bulbs, stuck or loose door handles, wobbly tables in the break-room. There’s always a long laundry list of small fix-it jobs that need doing. Each and everyone of them represents the risk of an injury if left untended for too long.

5. Employee satisfaction has dropped.

Unhappy employees mean that they are less committed to doing the job. Less committed employees aren’t as diligent and can lead to carelessness which in turn may lead to injuries.

Each of these things by themselves represents a small risk increase. They are incidental occurrences that are going to happen as business goes on. Like drops of water though, if you have enough of them you can drown. 

The danger of not paying attention to the small things is that eventually they become big. By that time the damage has already occurred and the opportunity to fix it has passed. Don’t let the large things blind you to the power of the small things. They are important for the health and well-being of both your company and your employees.