Engaging employees is the Key ...

Engaging employees seems to be the key to reducing injuries at work and saving businesses money... Making health and safety relevant and engaging seems to be the key to reducing injuries at work and saving businesses money. Injuries at work cost UK employers an estimated £14.3 billion each year, despite most businesses having a comprehensive health and safety programme in place, according to figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). In some cases, making workplace health and safety a more engaging and relevant topic seems to be the missing link. A general appreciation of it among staff is assumed, but it is only by reinforcing the consequences of not taking key measures that it becomes more relevant to them as individuals. This requires a commitment from an organisation to invest time, and even money in making sure that staff readily recognise the relevance of health and safety to their wellbeing. Stronger together A shared approach to the topic should be an overarching theme, with staff, management and even elected health and safety representatives being regularly briefed on updates to policies or changes in procedures; implementing initiatives that draw in the workforce and engage them in the potential outcomes of individual courses of action. Individual responsibility for worker safety The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) advocates that staff should be encouraged to generate ideas during health and safety initiatives. A clear endorsement therefore is that engaging staff as individuals instead of just a volume of people is vital. An example of where this clearly applies is in the area of fire safety training; the 2005 Fire Safety Order places a legal duty on employers – and not the fire service – to ensure that all building occupants are evacuated safely in the event of a fire. Please Click HERE or on the image to gain further information on our RoSPA Approved Fire Safety Training for all Staff from only £12.00 per course! Creating a robust evacuation plan to meet this requirement is all well and good, however without circulating it and consulting with staff to ensure they fully understand the process to follow, the risk of injury or even death increases significantly if a fire were to occur. A further aspect of this process that cannot be ignored, is the personal planning of how to evacuate those with mobility problems, for which there are a range of solutions, including specialist chairs to assist in the descent of stairs. Please Click HERE or on the image to gain further information on our RoSPA Approved Fire Safety Training for all Staff from only £9.00 per course! Other areas of health and safety awareness that require buy-in and the full appreciation of the workforce include the management of sickness. Treating the spread of bacteria is something that not only saves businesses money but also helps in managing the cleaning regime of the workplace, where it is essential that all areas are properly disinfected to prevent the spread of germs. Please Click HERE or on the image to gain further information on our Approved Pandemic Training for all Staff from only £12.00 per course! Talk to Staff and allow them to talk to you! Encouraging feedback and discussion throughout is essential as it is only implementing regular communication that key information is properly retained. Some organisations do reward their staff for proven health and safety compliance, but this is not always possible or appropriate,it is more appropriate to use better understanding as a way of facilitating adherence. This then removes the risk of staff becoming disinterested if they don’t receive a reward. Don’t become complacent Despite constantly working in a hectic and pressured space, this is no reason to de-prioritise the reinforcement of health and safety practice. The fast-paced nature of working life should actually be more of a reason to ensure this is part and parcel of working life, not simply an add-on that most people presume they fully understand. Leaving this to chance can be costly for individuals and businesses meaning that prevention is therefore the best course of action. So by taking steps now, business owners, facilities managers (FMs) and health and safety representatives alike are more likely to safeguard the future of their workforce and operations.

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