The Importance of Workplace Health and Safety
As an employer, one thing you should never compromise on is the health and safety of your employees. This is because good workplace health and safety doesn’t just protect your employees; it protects you. It is what promotes employee wellness and ensures the long-term success of your business. Below are some of the reasons why incorporating workplace health and safety into your business is important.
Minimising Legal Liabilities
Every employee has a legal right to a healthy/safe work environment, which is why the Department of Labour in most countries implements and oversees different occupational safety and health acts. This means that as an employer, it is your legal responsibility to ensure that your employees feel and are safe at work. Not complying with these health and safety legislations can make you liable for both legal and financial ramifications.
Better Productivity
A healthy and safe workplace means fewer workplace injuries, which in turn means better employee morale and productivity. By maintaining a healthy and safe work environment, your employees worry less about getting hurt and instead focus their attention on getting their daily tasks done. Conducting safety training for your employees can also be a way for you to build a stronger and more trusting relationship with them.
Saves you Time and Money
Having an employee get injured on your watch will cost your business money and downtime. This is because, as an employer, you are required to have insurance policies on workers’ compensation and workplace injuries can increase the basic costs of these policies. Having good workplace health and safety standards set in place can significantly reduce the number of workplace injuries sustained by employees and this saves you money in the long run.
Reducing Down-time
In addition to saving you money, good workplace health and safety standards prevent accidents that can cause disruptions to everyday business activities. Preventing these accidents also means no downtime for your business.
Increase Public Perception
The majority of customers tend to avoid businesses that operate under unsafe conditions. For example, no customer would want to eat at a restaurant that uses unsafe cooking practices. Also, a healthy workplace boosts employee morale and happy employees have better customer interactions. This positive customer interaction can encourage customer retention and loyalty.
Competitive Advantage
Having a good record of health and safety can help build trust in your brand. It shows your commitment to corporate social responsibility, sustainability and protection of your workforce- all of which are very attractive to potential investors and partners. Adopting the most current workplace health and safety standards can also help your business stand out from the competition, which is great for attracting more candidates for open positions in your company.
Reduce the Costs of Insurance Premiums
By implementing good workplace health and safety standards, your company demonstrates its commitment to taking great precautions for managing and safeguarding its employees and this can establish a foundation for attracting lower insurance premiums. If you’re a smaller company and can’t afford to hire a full time employee, you can get third party consultations from companies such as Howlett Health & Safety Services, and they’re usually to the same high quality as an in house hire would be.
Conclusion:
As an employer, preventing workplace accidents and potential deaths should be a natural priority and the fact is most safety issues, and workplace accidents won’t happen if everyone plays their part in ensuring that the work environment is safe and healthy. So, as an employer, you should avoid cutting corners and take the time to train your employees properly on safety protocols, as a safe workplace is a key component to developing a positive corporate culture.
