There’s no denying the importance of health and safety — protecting your employees and the public from harm should be a priority for businesses in all industries. From office-based businesses with minimal risks to construction companies working on dangerous building sites, good health and safety is key to creating a safe and happy workplace.
But what many people don’t realise is health and safety can also play a role in the overall success of your business. Here are some of the business benefits of implementing effective risk management strategies and safety procedures.
Health and Safety Can Help You Maintain a Good Reputation
With social media, online reviews and thousands of ‘influencers’ sharing their thoughts and experiences, news has never travelled faster. People broadcast the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of industries and individual businesses, and even a single negative comment can affect your sales. Your company’s reputation has never been more important.
Poor health and safety can leave a significant stain on your business’s reputation. Without effective risk management policies in place, accidents and injuries will occur in the workplace, and word of these incidents will soon spread, damaging your public image. So if you want to maintain a good reputation, implementing effective health and safety procedures can keep your business in good standing.
Good Health and Safety Can Lead to Increased Sales and Customer Loyalty
Consumers have become more concerned with the health and safety policies of the companies they buy from or work with. Retail customers want to make ethical purchasing decisions, and part of doing so is making sure the companies they buy from look after their employees. Corporate customers also invest in companies with high health and safety standards — they want to work with companies that will help, not hinder, their compliance.
So whether you operate a B2B or B2C business, making sure your health and safety standards are up to scratch can increase sales and improve customer loyalty.
Cut Business Costs by Improving Health and Safety
Poor health and safety will lead to accidents and injuries in the workplace, which can result in significant costs for your company. For example, if equipment or materials become damaged in accidents, you may need to pay to repair or replace them. And if employees are injured, you may be required to provide sick pay and pay for employment cover. Every business will experience some accidents, but repeated incidents can have a serious financial impact.
And as well as the direct risks involved with accidents and injuries, you may be faced with legal fines if your health and safety and risk management policies don’t comply with legislation.
However, these costs are easy to avoid with health and safety policies that meet regulations and protect employees, contractors and the public from harm.
Smart Safety Measures Can Increase Productivity
Your health and safety procedures can have a direct impact on the productivity of your employees. If employees are kept safe from harm and work-related ill-health, they’re less likely to take time off due to injuries or sickness. And if your staff are in full health, they’re more likely to carry out tasks to the best of their abilities.
Access to training can also improve staff productivity. If employees know how to correctly and safely carry out tasks and use equipment, they will spend less time learning on the job, and more time completing tasks effectively. Likewise, the placement and storage of control equipment can save staff time — if employees can easily access control equipment such as PPE, they’ll save time finding and preparing necessary equipment.
Protect Your Company from Legal Liability
Your company is legally required to meet health and safety regulations, and failing to do so can make your business vulnerable to legal liability. If accidents occur in your workplace and anyone is injured or suffers from ill-health as a result, your company may be sued, or you may even be prosecuted for breaching health and safety regulations.
How to Improve Your Company’s Health and Safety
Ensuring excellent health and safety standards can help your company thrive. Keeping your workplace safe can boost your company’s profitability by improving productivity, reducing costs, and potentially even increasing sales. So how exactly can you go about improving your health and safety standards?
Inspecting your workplace and identifying hazards is the first step you should take. You can then use this information to create thorough health and safety plans, risk assessments, and method statements to control and prevent risks. Your health and safety plans should also include effective training for employees and contractors. If you work in confined spaces, operating heavy equipment, and work with hazardous substances, OSHA requires specific training of employees for such specialized work. Therefore, you need to undertake OSHA 30 training to offer you extensive knowledge and the ability to keep safety in your workplace. This will offer you specialized knowledge on how to effectively keep your workplace safe
Health and safety assessment schemes can help you achieve compliance by providing access to relevant training courses and materials, electronic risk assessment and method statement templates. Some schemes will also allow you to demonstrate your excellent standards to customers and clients, helping you make the most of the business benefits of good health and safety.
Author Bio: David Lamb
David Lamb is a Digital Marketing Manager at CHAS, the UK’s leading provider of risk mitigation, compliance and supply chain management services. David has helped thousands of companies make the decision to join CHAS and achieve regulatory compliance, improve health and safety standards, gain cost-effective accreditation, create new business opportunities and minimise supply chain risk.