Health And Safety Gone Mad? Why Business Are Taking it More And More Seriously

1

Source

It’s likely you’ve heard the phrase “health and safety gone mad” more than once. But has it really gone too far? More and more businesses have started to take health and safety seriously. Startup companies have even found themselves in financial trouble when they are not covered for employee and public liability. You as an employer are responsible entirely for the health and safety of your staff. Read on to find out more reasons why it’s so important.

Training

More and more businesses are spending money and time on health and safety training for their employees. It’s a cost, but it could save you a significant amount of money in the future. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), over 200 people are killed each year in accidents at work and over one million people are injured. If you don’t train your staff, you can’t expect to go accident-free. Your employees need to know about any rules and regulations that will keep them safe.  A lack of training can result in accidents that are ultimately your fault. If an accident at work is your fault, you could find yourself losing a lot of money.

Cost

The cost of health and safety, when it goes wrong, can be damaging to a business on a large scale. The last thing any business wants is to be surprised with a personal injury claim. Cost is a large part of the reason so many businesses take health and safety seriously. Something as simple as not having the correct safety matting could result in a fall costing you thousands of pounds. Recently, a teacher was awarded a massive £75,000 after tripping on carpet. It’s important to remember that minor incidents could have an enormous impact on your business.

Absenteeism

If you are unfortunate enough to be in a situation where an employee is injured, it is not only cost that is an implication. If an employee is seriously injured, they may be out of work for a while, which will have a knock-on effect on your business. Absenteeism could mean your workforce struggles and your business can’t meet its requirements on time. The more you reduce risks at work and educate your staff on health and safety, the less likely you are to be missing employees because of accidents.

Ethics

At the end of the day, your employees are people and not just costs. Business owners often feel an ethical and moral responsibility towards looking after their employees. Your staff will appreciate and respect you more if you proactively make an effort to consider their health and safety.

Legalities

Perhaps most importantly, business are legally required to be responsible for health and safety. It is not optional to look after your employees. There are various regulations you must comply with all the way from room temperatures to fire safety. If you don’t keep on top of things, you could find yourself in trouble with the law, as well as losing a lot of money.

Safe Environment

Ensuring a healthy and safe working environment is perhaps an extension of the legal requirements which fall on business owners to ensure the safety of their employees. Ensuring a safe and healthy environment encompasses quite a few considerations, one of which is the likes of emergency exits, while another takes the form of equipment to be used in emergency situations, such as fire extinguishers among many others supplied by outlets such as FireProtectionOnline.

Hopefully, now you understand why health and safety is essential. You can’t prevent every situation, but by managing risks and being cautious you can avoid many problems.

 

Ken
Latest posts by Ken (see all)