It is extremely important to make sure that you have an excellent health and safety procedure in place in any working environment, for a variety of reasons. Many employers think that they have to create a health and safety procedure simply because UK government regulation says that they must. However, the safety regulations are much more than just something tedious to deal with. In fact, when implemented and followed correctly, they can be a great way to make a company more efficient, and can even help a company save in many more ways than they may realise.
Making Staff Feel Valued
To start with, when there is a great health and safety policy established within a business, then employees feel protected at work. When employees feel safe, they feel valued, and are more likely to identify positively with the company they work for. It has been proven many times that employees that feel committed to a company are much more likely to be productive. They are likely to be be more efficient and more work will get done a daily basis. The end result is that the company ends up making a higher profit while protecting employees. No matter how you look at it, everyone wins.
Avoiding Legal Action
Another reason to implement a great health and safety plan at work is the fact that it will help protect a company from lawsuits. No company wants to have to deal with costly lawsuits due to accidents that occur in the workplace. Many accidents are preventable, so if there are good health and safety policies in place, many will simply not occur. Of course, even with a policy in place there is always the chance an accident will occur, but if it’s proven that it was an employee’s fault for ignoring policy and not the company’s fault, then the lawsuit can be avoided.
Staying Within The Law
Finally, the last reason to consider putting a health and safety policy in place is because it will protect the company against fines if they are investigated by the government. Hefty fines can cut into profits, and in some cases officials might force a company to halt its operations until all safety and health issues are addressed. This can be prevented by developing a policy and sticking to it. This can be easily taken care of, by hiring a health and safety consultant to come in and review the way a business operates, to create a basic policy that protects everyone – from employees and middle management to the business owners.
