There are health and safety risks that are associated to every workplace regardless of the size and mode of operations. In some businesses, the risk may be slipping on wet floor while in other businesses the accidents can be severe and result to disability or death. Severe/ fatal industrial accidents incur huge financial costs, attract negative publicity, and cause personal grief and distress. To avoid this, businesses are advised to implement reliable and effective workplace health and safety programs.
Why is workplace health and safety important?
By directing business time and resources towards workplace health and safety programs, you portray your commitment to ensuring that your employees are safe and protected as they work. Employees feel appreciated and as a result, they become more productive and loyal.
Businesses aim at making profits and reducing expenses. Unknown to many businesses, implementing an effective workplace health and safety program reduces expenses in the long run. This is because, the lower the workplace injuries, the lower the expenses and hence, increased profits. Moreover, if your business deals with several workplace accidents in one year, the legal fees and insurance costs will increase significantly.
Every business thrives because of the customer. Therefore, workplace health and safety affects the customer too. If employees are injured during work hours and as a result of unsafe or unhealthy working conditions, you are left with less manpower. This in turn results to delayed customer orders or poor product quality and services since the remaining employees will be overworked. Hence, you lose business, income and above all, customer loyalty.
Summary
As illustrated above, the importance of workplace health and safety cannot be underestimated. Therefore, top business managers must conduct proper workplace health and safety analysis in a bid to determine the ideal health and safety measures that not only protect employees but also ensures legal compliance.