How to Champion Health and Safety in your Workplace

Over 30 million working days were lost in 2015/16 due to work related illness or injury.  This doesn’t just impact the individual but also the company they work for.  With so many other costs to take into consideration, businesses need to do everything they can to avoid unnecessary illness and injury at work.

Typically, health and safety has prioritised the safety aspect of working practices but there has been a recent shift towards boosting wellbeing, in addition to making workplaces safer, in a bid to reduce illness, improve productivity and increase retention.

The government is currently pushing employers to do more to aid employee health and wellbeing at work, with the Helping Great Britain Work Well initiative supporting innovation in health and safety practices and increasing productivity.

Health and Safety training is, of course, a good place to start as this will ensure that those who are entering the workplace for the first time, or are designated health and safety supervisors, have the knowledge required to keep themselves and others free from harm in the workplace.

Aside from participating in a course, there are some simple steps that all employers can take to improve health and safety at work:

• Identify hazards in your workplace – from things that people could trip over to potential fire risks and heavy items that need to be moved correctly, by identifying the hazards in your workplace you can put together a plan of action and ensure employees have the knowledge, training and equipment to do their jobs safely and effectively.  Did you know that back and limb pain is one of the main causes of occupational ill health in the UK?

• Provide the right equipment – from ergonomic chairs and booster cushions to encourage good posture and minimise back or joint pain to safety gloves and glasses to protect the skin and eyes, providing the right equipment to staff who need it will help you to prevent injury at work.

• Provide the right guidance and training – as an example, if you are expecting employees to lift and carry heavy equipment you will need to ensure they know how to do this safely to avoid injury to themselves and others.  Manual handling courses are the perfect way to deliver this knowledge and with e-learning options available, employees can complete the training online in their own time.

• Be considerate towards employee needs – from creating breakout areas where staff can spend their lunch hour to ensuring they take the breaks they are entitled to, supporting employees to get a good working balance will contribute towards their wellbeing and improve productivity.

• Talk to your employees – by meeting regularly with staff you’ll give them the opportunity to voice their concerns and share their thoughts on health and safety in the workplace.  If employees have recently taken part in training courses, this will be a good opportunity for them to share what they have learned with others.

Health and Safety shouldn’t be at the bottom of your list – it’s just as important, if not more so than efficient budgeting and good customer service – and can deliver great benefits such as increased employee engagement, wellbeing and retention.  If you’re worried about the time investment in allowing staff to participate in offsite courses why not consider our e-Learning options?  Participants can logon in their own time and complete our Level 1 Health and Safety course to get an overview of health and safety principles and procedures and workplace hazards.

For more learning options, course dates and venues please contact the First Response Team on 01543 372888.