Probably the biggest mistake a business owner can make is to underestimate the importance of valuing their employees. A big part of this is providing a healthy, safe workspace for all staff members, and unfortunately, there are a number of common mistakes businesses make in this area.
Here are the top 6 biggest health & safety mistakes any business can make, and what to do instead.
1. Avoiding Investment in Health & Safety
As your business grows over time, you invest in new technology, machinery, and operational processes for optimal efficiency. However, not all businesses invest in health and safety to the same degree.
Not every new system is meant to last forever. Timely maintenance and scheduled inspections are extremely important. Ignoring these responsibilities just to save a little money can have serious consequences.
Ultimately, if an accident or incident occurs in the workplace, the organization will have to pay for this, whether in compensation, fines, productivity loss, or all of the above. Fines in particular are huge and can amount to millions of pounds, much more than you tried to save in the first place by avoiding necessary repairs and training. On top of that, the company’s reputation can be hurt badly.
2. Buying Substandard PPE and Workwear
Buying substandard PPE and/or workwear is another common mistake that businesses make when trying to a few pennies. The quality of PPE and workwear can be the difference between a narrow escape and a fatal ending. Make sure to buy high-quality and approved Personal Safety Equipment and workwear for your employees.
For example, chemical burn injuries mostly happen due to substandard workwear being unable to withstand the impact of a strong chemical. Additionally, it is important to properly maintain workwear to make sure it stays in top condition. Laundry, timely repair, and proper storage of workwear require a significant amount of time, but hiring a professional service to take care of everything makes it easy to keep your employees safe.
3. Training in a Hurry
Yes, time is precious for every business, but rushing through Health & Safety training sessions is not a good idea. Such hasty training won’t empower your employees and supervisors to efficiently react if something goes wrong in the workplace. It is better to invest a little more ineffective and comprehensive training that properly prepares your employees to avoid risks and react if something does go awry.
4. Overlooking Narrow Escapes
This is a dangerous practice and it often happens in companies where incentives are awarded to team members who go without an injury for a set amount of time. For example, companies sometimes give rewards to teams who don’t report an accident or injury for three, or perhaps six months. This may seem like a good way to encourage safe practices, but in practice what happens is supervisors are often conscious of such rewards and so they avoid reporting an actual injury.
Such habits further develop into not even reporting narrow escapes. Sometimes a scheduled repair is delayed or seemingly minor problems with the equipment of machinery are overlooked. Such practices are a ticking time bomb, and sooner or later will manifest into a more serious incident!
5. Using Makeshift Tools
This habit is all too common in workplaces. Perhaps there is an urgent task to complete and the correct tool is not on hand, or perhaps there’s no budget to buy the required equipment. Either way, a worker or supervisor makes a hasty decision of using makeshift tools instead of waiting for the correct one.
This is usually a huge mistake because such makeshift tools won’t do the job, and can also be hazardous to those who use them. These solutions are obviously unreliable and the machine or the structure will stay vulnerable, which can lead to accidents or injury.
6. Not Making Safety Everyone’s Responsibility
It’s essential for businesses to make safety everyone’s responsibility. Management must take on the responsibility for health and safety through investment, hiring professionals, outsourcing safety trainers, and more. This responsibility cannot be delegated down the line. Similarly, it’s important that organizations communicate to all staff that they also have their part to play. Each and every team member must follow health and safety guidelines, identify and take action against any risks in the workplace, and respond appropriately if an incident does occur.
Final thoughts
Not handling health and safety appropriately can be very damaging for any business, from not showing their employees that they are valued, to the financial losses incurred following an incident. It is essential for organizations of all sizes to invest in health and safety including high-quality workwear and proper tools, ensuring staff have comprehensive health and safety training, and making sure all incidents are reported and risks addressed.
