Meeting requirements for Health and Safety has the ultimate goal of protecting your employees from harm. You would not want a workplace accident on your conscience; or to feel responsible for long-term effects from work on someone’s health.
Further to this, having staff trained in Health and Safety can mean reduced insurance premiums, enhanced reputation, increased production, reduced absenteeism, and helps protect you against legal costs – or even prison!
Within the company, the role of managing health and safety usually falls to a manager or supervisor. It is vital that they undertake training in Health and Safety law and practices in order to fulfil this role and protect the rest of the staff.
1. Reduced Insurance Premiums
Proving that you have leaders who are trained in Health and Safety issues can reduce your insurance premiums because, of course, it means you are less likely to make a claim. Not only that, but the actions taken to prevent injury or illness will mean those premiums stay low because no claims are made.
2. Enhanced Reputation
Your employees are your best asset and advocate, by providing an environment that is safe, secure and where your staff feel they are being looked after they are likely to sing your praises. Also if you provide the working environment where nobody is an advocate, typically the views from your staff can have a negative effect on your reputation.
3. Increased Productivity
A staff member who experiences health or safety issues as a result of your working environment, they may not always have the confidence or awareness to raise it as an issue. Instead, they may suffer in silence and work slower than usual, with more unofficial breaks to manage the pain.
A thorough health and safety audit by a trained manager will check for this sort of occurrence. Once identified, action will be taken to ensure this person is protected from this kind of injury and that they have the resources to be as productive as possible.
4. Reduced Absence
A manager who is trained in Health and Safety practices will be in a position to reduce illness and absence. For example, knowledge of allowed working temperatures and required washing facilities could prevent viruses spreading and causing sick leave.
5. Legal Protection Against Damages
With or without a formal policy (which is a legal requirement of anywhere that employs more than five people), all companies must take reasonable steps to protect the health of their staff.
A business owner who is proven to have been negligent in protecting their staff against accident or illness can be held personally responsible; fine and even imprisoned.Health and Safety training will ensure that any minor incidents are documented and investigated, thus reducing the chance of injury and subsequent claims.
Workplace accident insurance will cover some types of claim in some circumstances but, even with insurance, you will always need to prove that reasonable preventative steps were taken. Insurance payouts don’t cover all costs involved in accidents, e.g. equipment repairs or to cover lost profits.
The cost and time spent on Health and Safety training and measures are tiny when compared to the potential damages from workplace accident or work-related ill health.
