Workplace Safety | Who is Responsible for Health and Safety?

Everyone, including employees, contractors and the self-employed who work for you needs to know how to work safely and without causing risks to health. You, as the employer, must supply clear instructions, workplace safety guidelines and information plus adequate training, for your employees.

Employees Responsibility for Health and Safety

Employers have a responsibility to ensure the health and safety of all persons employed in the workplace. However, irrespective of how many risks and hazards employers manage to reduce, accidents will continue to happen if workers fail to take responsibility for their own actions. The actions and mindsets of employees in the workplace can have a considerable effect on the business as a whole. Attitude is one of those concealed, difficult-to-measure factors that ends up being central to the success of a company. Whether for better or for worse, employee attitudes tend to have a far-reaching impact on the efficiency and productivity of a business, both directly and through the effect on other job-related factors. One employee acting irresponsibly can not only hurt themselves, but others as well so the approach to achieving a safe working environment has to be a team effort. Employees must understand their role in forming a safe and healthy working environment and always take that responsibility seriously.

Counting the Cost to Your Business

Accidental impacts such as two employees colliding with each other or running into a static or moving object are very common in the workplace as are slips, trips and falls. Is this due to lack of attention, horseplay, production targets, early signs of an illness or an ailment? On the surface, these may seem to be insignificant incidents, especially if injuries and damage is minor but, every accident, every incident, every near miss has an impact on the company.

• Financial loss through sickness absence or claims for industrial injury.
• Downtime, lost production due to accident investigations.
• The reputation and image of the company can take years to achieve but be lost in a matter of seconds due to one potentially avoidable accident or incident.

Employers Responsibility for Health and Safety

Employers and employees’ attitudes to health and safety in the workplace will only improve with the introduction of the appropriate training, instruction and supervision. Employers need to invest in the skills of their workforce by implementing training, regular follow up sessions and tool box talks. Safety, for many reasons, has to be the top priority. Training need not be expensive or time consuming but can save your Company money over the long term. Find out about the range of health and safety courses and training our Safety Consultants can provide for your business.