What health and safety support should we provide to our team?

Keeping your team safe at work should be the most important priority for all employers. Why? Well, lets take a look at the statistics to see if your business would leave itself open to the risks that come from not taking health and safety support in the workplace seriously.

• 123 workers killed in work-related accidents (2021/22)
• 1.8 million work-related ill health cases (2021/22)
• 0.9 million work-related stress, depression or anxiety cases (2021/22)
• £18.8 billion annual costs of work-related injury and new cases of ill health (2019/20)
• £7.6 billion annual costs of work-related injury in (2019/20)
• 36.8 million working days lost due to work-related ill health and non-fatal workplace injury (2021/22)

(Health and Safety Executive, November 2022)

The importance of health and safety at work shouldn’t be underestimated. Not just because it’s a legal requirement, but because it makes you a better, more trustworthy employer. And, as employees have become more alert to workplace risks in light of COVID-19, a strong safety culture is more important than ever before.

Making the workplace safe and healthy is all about managing risks so that you can protect your workers and your business. So, recognising the importance of health and safety in the workplace, our latest blog looks at what your business can do to make sure that you’re best protecting your teams.

At its simplest, the health, safety and wellbeing of workers should go beyond just your legal obligations. Yet, according to research, over 300 million workers from 142 countries feel that they cannot report safety issues to their employers without fear of punishment. That’s despite workplaces with higher worker engagement having 64% fewer safety incidents.

As well as reducing your risks of injuries, accidents and incidents of ill-health, investing in building a strong safety culture provides benefit in other areas too, such as credibility and reputation, morale and wellbeing of employees and retention rates.

Making health and safety a priority is as valuable as any other investment that your business will make, so don’t see it as an unnecessary overhead. At the same time, make sure that you focus on mental health, as the rate of workplace-related stress has consistently risen.

Policies alone are not enough. So, what can your business do to make sure it provides the health and safety support that your team should expect?

• Make sure safety is valued by leaders
• Make a commitment to changing the workplace for the better
• Make sure employees take ownership of their own safety and team members
• Make an investment in safe procedures, programmes and equipment

Here are some of the health and safety basics that your business needs to provide the right support to your teams:

• Create a health and safety policy
• Manage risks and risk assessments of the workplace, taking account of people working from home
• Identify hazards and assess risks at work, taking account of people working from home
• Report accidents and illness
• Provide information and training
• Tell your teams what their health and safety duties are
• Involve your teams and keep them updated about health and safety
• Provide the right workplace facilities
• Make sure to have first aid in place at work
• Appoint a competent person

With the right processes and tools in place, your business can strengthen its safety culture and make a positive difference.

Click here to read some frequently asked questions about health and safety.