Is your organisation safely prepared? With staff still on furlough, redundancies, quarantining etc we all need to ensure employees are equipped with the knowledge and skills to operate safely. The more engagement there is within the workforce the better the results.
According to IOSH (Institution of Occupational Safety and Health), organisations that invest in training are seeing a positive impact on their workers’ effectiveness and a range of business benefits, such as a positive, caring work culture, increased productivity and an enhanced reputation. These employers are also mitigating the risk of huge costs to their organisation (and society as a whole) of poor health and safety at work – a recent report estimated the total cost to society of a workplace fatality in Britain at nearly £1.7 million. 111workers were killed in the workplace in the UK 2019/20
83% of companies agreed that active staff involvement to improve workplace safety is a benefit of external courses. The training of managers can support a key requirement for shaping a safe and healthy culture of work – a ‘bottom-up, top-down’ model of operation. If employees are to be truly engaged in safety and health performance and improvement, they must believe that their views are listened to – that they can report risk and be assured that their management team will act. They need assurance that they can challenge anyone about poor safety and health performance and expect rectification.
79% of companies found that improved organisation-wide safety awareness culture is a benefit of external courses The new international standard for occupational safety and health, ISO 45001, includes this statement about occupational safety and health: “The success of the occupational safety and health management system depends on leadership, commitment and participation from all levels and functions of the organization.” A strong OSH management system underpins a safe and healthy work culture and health and safety management training is an excellent mechanism for achieving this. Training courses equip managers with the skills, knowledge and understanding required to assess risk, demonstrate the organisation’s commitment to good health and safety and can involve participation at all levels of an organisation.
IOSH Managing Safely is an excellent foundation in the basics of health and safety and helps to increase awareness and engagement.
