Benefits Of A Health And Safety Management System

As a business owner, you have many benefits when implementing and re-enforcing a health and safety management system. Focusing on health and safety demonstrates that you are committed to your organisation and to workplace safety, therefore enhancing your reputation as a responsible employer.

Overall, you will manage your business easier and more effectively, and you will reduce the number of potential accidents (and the costs associated with correcting and recovering from these accidents). Health and safety management systems can positively influence your business in numerous ways, both direct and indirect. Here are a few positives of implementing a health and safety management system:

Increased compliance

No matter what industry you are in, there is always a very long list of rules and regulations you must follow, with the threat of being fined if you don’t comply with those requirements. Health and safety management systems contribute to your efforts of complying with standards in your industry and avoiding hefty fines. Compliance with health and safety regulations is associated with a lower risk of failed inspections, worker complaints, and fines for noncompliance.

Higher productivity

You have all the reasons in the world to keep your employees healthy at work, as opposed to healing at home in the case of an incident. The overall productivity of your team is increased because your staff sustains fewer injuries and illnesses, and their increased morale boosts productivity as well. Not to mention that injuries and illnesses at work cost a company a large portion; more than average payments for sick leave.

Some business owners have a misconception that productivity is lowered by health and safety practices because these measures require time and effort, which could otherwise be used for production purposes. No wonder that many workers feel that their employer values productivity more than safety.

However, everyone should understand that a company can only prosper when it’s number one focus is on their employee’s and employee’s wellbeing (health and safety included). Evidence is suggesting that countries with a better workplace health and safety record, such as Finland and Denmark, are also more competitive in the global economy. Lack of safety and its consequences overcome the short-term productivity advantage, as accidents come with multiple costs for employers: compensation payments, medical expenses, noncompliance fines, litigation expenses, property losses, and indirect costs.

More profits

Higher profits are always an incentive for taking action, and the implementation of a health and safety management system increases your company’s return for the following reasons: reducing the costs of training temporary replacements for employees who are recovering from an accident, avoiding costs associated with the replacement or repair of damaged properties, eliminating costs for investigating accident causes, and avoiding schedule delays caused by accidents. So, implementing health and safety programs to prevent occupational injuries and illnesses is not only the right thing to do, but the most profitable thing to do in the long run.

Protecting your staff

Superior health and safety practices protect your staff from a wide range of threats and problems, such as:

• Musculoskeletal disorders like repetitive strain injury
• Injuries caused by slips and trips
• Falls from height
• Strain caused by using display screen equipment
• Effects of noise and vibration
• Asthma caused by substances that trigger allergies or asthma
• Asbestos-related diseases
• Work-related skin diseases

Increasing employee satisfaction

People are pleased and satisfied when someone else displays their genuine interest into their wellbeing, and this includes employees with their employers. When employees notice that their managers and boss’ take a genuine interest into their health and safety, their productivity and morale will improve, and employee retention rates will rise.

Disengaged and unhappy staff affects a company’s bottom line, and can even cause unsafe behaviour on the job. When employees are not sustained by a safety culture, they begin to be less concerned with their performance at work, put their safety at risk, and eventually affect daily operations to the point where the company’s growth is inhibited and productivity is hindered.

Generating positive PR for your business

Being responsible for your employees by implementing health and safety management systems improves your public image, and helps you create a seamless reputation of your organisation. At the same time, the lack of incidents that are negatively publicised by the press and on social networks also contributes to creating and maintaining a positive image of your business.

Lowering your insurance premiums

Demonstrating to insurers that you are controlling risk effectively may help lowering your insurance premiums. Reducing the costs of insurance price is desirable for every business because in today’s litigation culture insurance premiums are mandatory, regardless of their price. By having an insurance you will be able to transfer risk that could damage or bankrupt your business to third parties i.e. insurance companies.

The fact that your business has a health and safety management system that is proven to reduce injury and illness costs by 20 to 40 per cent, determines insurance companies to lower your insurance premiums significantly. This is because the perceived risk becomes lower.

Obtaining finance more easily

If you want to gain finance from banks and investors, displaying that your business is well-managed increases your chances of getting the money you need to develop your company. Your company is viewed as more profitable and will be considered a better investment compared to an organisation that doesn’t benefit from health and safety management systems.

Attracting business

Health and safety management systems lead to an increase in confidence in your business, attracting collaborations with larger companies and government agencies. Demonstrating you have effective management systems enables you to take your company to the next level.

Adhering to corporate social responsibility principles

Health and safety management systems help with the physical, social, and mental wellbeing of employees, which are also main aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR is represented by a company’s concerns with social and environmental issues throughout decision-making processes. Paying attention to worker health and safety is part of ethical behaviours that contribute to the welfare of society, take into consideration stakeholder expectations, ensure compliance with applicable laws, and follow international norms.

The ISO 26000 standard enables companies to be socially responsible because it encourages organisations to incorporate social and environmental factors in decision making processes, to be accountable for the consequences on society and environment of their decisions, and to take into account the general principles of social responsibility:

• accountability
• transparency
• ethical behaviour
• respect for stakeholder interests
• respects for the rule of law
• respect for international norms of behaviour
• respect for human rights

The correlation between health and safety management and CSR has been confirmed by a large number of case studies and occupational health concerns definitely belong to the framework of corporate social responsibility.