These days there really are no excuses for company owners not to be clued up on the latest health and safety regulations relating to their industry. With research showing that SMEs account for more than three quarters of all injuries in the workplace plus over half of all fatal accidents, you’d think that this issue would be of paramount importance to their operations.
Still, if the necessary actions had been taken by these small and medium sized firms the statistics would not be anywhere near as high as they are at the present moment, which begs the question: do they actually care?
In some sectors it is expected that health and safety is at the forefront of all they do, with strict legislation in place and continual monitoring of their activities. However, for other businesses the guidelines are more loosely followed and regulated to a much lesser extent.
This puts most of the onus on the company itself to ensure that its premises and working practices are geared towards a safe place in which its staff can carry out their day to day duties. The unfortunate aspect of this is as businesses are under much tighter financial constraints in the midst of a harsh economic backdrop, it is only when something tragic happens when the management actually sit up and take notice.
While this may be doing a disservice to the majority of honest and responsible enterprises out there, others will cut corners where they can – with only the absolute bare minimum devoted towards health and safety.
Most workplace accidents and related situations could be avoided, by a few simple precautions being taken and taking more notice of the practical advice offered by the specialists in this area.
They can conduct an audit of the current working practices to assess where the danger may lie and propose ways that the business can reduce the level of risk in this environment and comply with all current legislation at the same time. It is understandable that this can take time, which many employers simply do not have, which is why an outside agency can sort it all out for them and remove the stress of having to do this as an internal matter. Getting help from such experts can provide a better perspective on what needs to be done to keep the company up to date with health and safety and make the premises a safer environment in which to work.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’][/author_image] [author_info]This article was written by Steven Prichard, a specialist on health and safety at work.[/author_info] [/author]
