Health and safety are always thought to be an important subject in high-risk industries such as building, quarrying, farming, and manufacturing, but good health and safety practice is required by businesses in all industries.
Reducing the risk of people being potentially harmed from unsafe acts in the workplace is the moral duty of every employer.
To build a workplace that values health and safety, you need commitment from the most senior persons in businesses, as well as employees. Focusing on employee protection, worker involvement, and good communication can minimise the risk of workplace accidents and encourage accountability at every level.
As stated by the British Safety Council, "Creating a positive health and safety culture is about engaging everyone in the workplace to contribute towards improving safety performance." You can read more about the subject by going to their site.
• Management commitment and style
• Employee involvement
• Training and competence
• Communication
• Compliance with procedures
• Organisational learning
Employers are required by law to protect employees and others from harm. In practice, this means that all workplace activities should be risk assessed to:
• Identify what could cause injury or illness (hazards)
• Decide how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously (the risk)
• Take action to eliminate the hazard, or if this isn't possible, control the risk
• Elimination – Physically remove the hazard
• Substitution – Replace the hazard with something less or non-hazardous
• Engineering controls – Isolate or remove people from the hazard
• Administrative controls – Change the way people work
• PPE – Protect the worker with the correct protective equipment
Remember, personal protective equipment (PPE) should be the last resort, not the first!
Further information can be found on the Health and Safety Executive website.
According to the Health and Safety Executive, "Providing workers with training on job hazards and workplace safety is crucial in reducing accidents and ill-health."
• Provide on-the-job training. Offer practical, hands-on training to show what ‘real life’ hazards are around employees and those they could be exposed to during their work day.
• Ensuring everyone adopts safe work practices to prevent accidents and injuries.
• Ensuring employees are aware of the personal protective equipment (PPE) they are required to use, how it is to be used, and why it is needed.
• Most importantly, if they have any issues, the employees are aware of who to ask for guidance.
Continual learning keeps employees updated on the latest guidelines and the approved codes of practice. This becomes especially important as companies adopt new technologies and update their working practices.
• Refresher training. Schedule regular updates to reinforce the correct and agreed way to do things.
• Ensure where changes are made, refresher training is completed in a timely manner.
• Ensure refresher training is given to all the relevant persons. Remember, not knowing could add further risk of potential harm.
Achieving a safe workplace is not a one-time event; it requires ongoing efforts from everyone in a business. This includes a robust safeguarding culture, compliance with legal requirements, effective training to adhere to safe working practices, and continual learning to keep up with changes.
When companies accept proactive measures, they reduce the chances of accidents, increase productivity, and, most importantly, protect their employees.
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