To get the best out of a workforce, you need to provide your team with a safe and healthy place to be while the carry out daily tasks. There are many aspects of health and safety of each industry, and some have strict regulation on a variety of different things especially organizations where people work with machinery or equipment. Keeping workers safe is essential for any company, and it is not only the responsibility of the business to provide adequate tools to do the job, but there is also a need to give relevant training in different areas of health and safety. Implementing a safety program for employees should be a part of standard company plans, and although it may initially be a costly investment, it has significant benefits in the overall productivity and morale of workers in each work environment.
Check out some of the significant benefits of a safe and healthy workplace.
Increased productivity
When workers feel safe in the job they are doing, they generally work more efficiently. If they haven’t received adequate training, tasks tend to take longer and sometimes may not be done to standard. Providing training and helping workers to fulfill their tasks efficiently increases safety-conscious workforces who, in turn, encourage everyone around them to work efficiently and safely. Providing the necessary resources, perhaps with the assistance of an OSHA Compliance Consultant who can help to develop your company’s health and safety program, also shows a commitment to your workers. Furthermore, listening to their needs will help to bring effective procedures into place to help them work productively.
Happier and healthier employees
If an employee feels valued and cared for during the working day, they are more likely to go home satisfied with a day at work than if you ignore their needs and flout specific health and safety rules. Whatever industry your business operates in, happy employees help to create a better working culture and a collaborative effort in the workplace. Encouraging employees to take up healthier habits during the day can also boost creativity and simple things such as providing healthy snacks rather than sugary options in the canteen or promoting simple exercise during the workday, for example, desk stretching or walking on a lunch break, can help make workers feel valued.
Reduces absenteeism
When you have effective safety procedures in place, you can reduce workplace injuries dramatically. When workers have the right tools and instructions for the job, they are less likely to make small mistakes that could, in turn, have more considerable consequences to themselves and people around them. This, however, is not primarily the fault of the worker, as if they have not received the necessary training or equipment to enable safe practice of the task then you could also be liable for their ill health due to non-compliance of safety procedures. A reduction in absenteeism is excellent for boosting productivity throughout the workforce and helps to reduce costs to the business from ill health and reduced output.
Higher standards in the working environment
With the integration of health and safety procedures in all areas of the business, work environments are generally kept up to a higher standard to avoid risk or injury to employees. Whether this is an office space or a factory setting, having a tidy and well-managed work area with hazardous things like gases stored away safely in appropriate cabinets, such as the ones available here, is essential to ensure you and everyone around you are safe. Not keeping up with standard health and safety levels could increase the risk of accidents and ill health in workers. Implementing ways to incorporate tasks of general housekeeping will also help to create a clearer working space in which, everyone can enjoy fewer distractions and as a result of less clutter.
Reduces business costs
When you invest in aspects of the business especially the workforce, you will reap the rewards quickly in a number of ways. Introducing relevant health and safety procedures and promoting them throughout the company helps to give everyone what they need to complete the work efficiently. Although on the outset, these improved working practices may involve some level of investment, the benefits start to roll in soon after. These usually mean that overall business costs will be reducedas you will not have to pay out so much in absent workers or replacements for absenteeism. Plus, productivity levels generally rise, so you’ll get more out of your workers that are enjoying a better experience in the work environment.
Improves brand values and corporate identity
Having a bad reputation for lack of health and safety procedures and ethical working environments will not be suitable for brand image. Companies that are willing to invest the time and money into better working practices that, in turn, lead to higher standards of health and safety throughout the organization will build a good presence with their employees and the surrounding community. Good news travels fast, so if you are at the forefront when providing a great place to work, then your presence in the market will attract positive attention. Companies that are recognized as socially responsible in their local community are often celebrated, and this can create a positive working environment and a sense of pride for the people that work there.
Implementing change to the work environment
A professional who can give the best advice on industry standards and best practice should complete the process of incorporating health and safety procedures into a workplace. There are several elements to making sure your company is set up for safer working, and these include:
- Identifying hazards both immediate and potentially harmful
- Assessing the risk
- Putting measures in place to control risk such a reporting and recording incidents
- Having adequate insurance to cover risks
- Providing employees with appropriate first aid and welfare facilities
There are many benefits to having health and safety procedures in place in an organization. Ensuring that standard regulation is adhered to and trying to improve working practices and environments in the long-term, will see you reap the rewards in a loyal and focused workforce, that feel proud to work for a company that values their well-being.
