It is important that the necessity of good health and safety in the workplace is never underestimated. Whether this applies to vehicle loading, ensuring that equipment is working effectively or that employees have the right safety training, your health and safety processes should be robust. Not only are there rules and regulations regarding workplace health and safety, but it is also part of your role as an employer to make certain that your employees are not at risk of sustaining any injuries during the course of completing the work that they are employed to do for you.
The health and safety precautions that you put in place are not just there to protect you and your employees. However, they are also for those who visit your premises; whether they are visitors, contractors or customers.
Why is workplace health and safety important?
Health and safety is important in protecting anyone who enters your business premises.
As an employer, you have a duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 . However, it goes beyond the fact that having good health and safety in place is a good business practice. When you ignore the rules surrounding health and safety you may lose staff and end up with lower retention rates and higher costs for recruitment. Poor health and safety may result in injury, illness and in the worst cases death. If you breach the regulations, you may be prosecuted, fined or imprisoned and you risk losing your business.
Improving your health and safety
There are always improvements that can be made when it comes to your health and safety procedures. Here are some of the things that you should be doing:
• Ensure you have a written policy – Whilst it is only a legal requirement if you have five or more employees it is good practice to have this regardless. It should be reviewed annually in case of changes.
• Have a proper training programme in place – All your staff should have health and safety training, and this should be reviewed regularly with refresher courses being offered.
• Make sure you have the right equipment
• Lead from the top – Show your employees what you expect, and they will follow your example.
• Have an occupational health scheme in place – This will help any employees who do get injured whilst at work.
Occupational health is an important branch of medicine. It focuses on the mental and physical wellbeing of your employees in the workplace. Occupational therapists have specialist areas of expertise and work with those who are responsible for people management in organisations of all sizes as well as those in HR. They offer impartial advice to help employers and support employees.
Conclusion
Having the right health and safety measures in place is a must for any business but it is just as important to be proactive and this means that you should be continually reviewing the measures that you have in place, updating them and improving them.
All new employees should be made aware of the procedures and be given the relevant training, for their safety and that of those around them. Additionally, existing employees should be given refresher courses on all of your procedures to ensure that their knowledge and understanding is also up to date.
As an employer it is your responsibility to ensure that all of this happens. While it cannot guarantee that there will be no accidents and injuries that will occur on your premises, it does mean that there should be far fewer incidents that take place. Investing a little money in putting the right measures in place will help you to improve your staff retention rates. This will ultimately help you to keep your overheads at a good level.
Also Read: Promoting Workplace Safety: The Importance of Proper Work Safety Equipment
