Of course, there are many clear benefits of health and safety training – with varying degrees of importance depending on the type of industry you operate in.
Without it, workplace injuries happen, and employees can get seriously hurt.
Negligence and ignorance are dangerous in any setting but especially in a work environment. For businesses, these dangers – and the risk of accidents – are amplified when workers carry out duties that involve handling dangerous equipment, chemicals, or carrying out intricate procedures.
It’s vital then that employees undergo the necessary health and safety training courses, ensuring they are armed with at least a basic knowledge and understanding so that they can help themselves, and their colleagues, avoid danger.
What Is Health and Safety at Work?
To accurately examine the benefits, we first need to establish what health and safety is. Ask the average person and they’d probably be able to give you a vague definition that mainly centred around making sure avoidable injuries are stopped, and accidents are, ideally, kept at zero.
However, did you know that there is so much more nuance to it?
Why Is Health and Safety Important?
Health and safety at work covers so much more than just flashpoint accidents – hence, it’s incredibly important to get right. Health and safety benefits every aspect of an individual’s working environment, making sure they’re free from any danger or, at the very least, those unavoidable threats are mitigated as much as possible.
For example, did you know that the way an employee sits at their desk, and how that affects their posture, is just one of many safety issues? Similarly, how they use their DSE equipment – such as scrolling with their mouse or carrying out repetitive movements – also comes under the H&S umbrella.
Essentially, health and safety at work involves carrying out training, creating emergency procedures, and proactively doing as much as possible to minimise the risk of injury and drive down absenteeism (the rate at which people are off ill).
Key Benefits of Health and Safety Training
From the obvious, like preventing someone from being mortally wounded in a construction accident, to more nuanced things such as stopping people having chronic back pain from poor seating, marking out time in your staff’s schedule for a decent health and training course can be a literal lifesaver.
Some benefits of health and safety training that you can expect…
Benefits for Employers
- Fewer accidents – An accident, especially a bad one, brings with it a million things that you want to avoid – from the obvious emotional distress to the potential legal action that could take place. If you can ensure you have actionable procedures, as well as a company-wide, safety-first ethos, you can be pretty confident that you’ll have fewer accidents.
- Lower employee turnover – From an economic standpoint, not having to constantly search, recruit, hire, and train new employees will save you a great deal of money. Estimates state that hiring someone costs around £50,000 in the first year of employment. By investing in health and safety services with us, you’ll be doing your business a big favour in the long term.
- Increased reputation – Regardless of industry, being known as a business that takes employee safety very seriously is going to help you attract and retain talent. If you have clients, you can reassure them that the money they are paying you is being used in ethical ways to promote safe working, all of which helps to create the best possible work.
Benefits for Employees
- Reduced risks – Working in a safe environment means fewer risks are lying around. There are no cables that you could trip over, no slick floors that you could slip on, and no dangerous equipment being left around.
- Peace of mind – With all that risk reduced, your mental health and peace of mind will improve. Having to worry and fret about risk is not conducive for good work and sound mind.
- Fewer colleagues off sick – If you know you can rely on your colleagues to be regularly at work, you can focus on your job, and your job alone, without having to take on extra responsibilities as a result of chronic absenteeism.
Who Is Responsible for Workplace Health and Safety?
Responsibility for health and safety at work, in theory, applies to everyone who attends an office, site, or plant. An emphasis on safety procedure and policy should be filtered down throughout an organisation – as should the need for individual responsibility to keep up safety obligations.
All employees have a duty of care to their colleagues and must do everything they can to avoid an accident. Should you require a health and safety competent person on staff, do reach out to our team.
What Legislation Is There?
The main piece of occupational health and safety legislation is the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. This introduced a wide range of responsibilities for employers. It specifies that employers must provide adequate measures to protect employees from risks.
The main piece of legislation for Health and Safety Training Courses comes from the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 Section 2(2)c:
‘General duties of employers to their employees.
- It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.
- Without prejudice to the generality of an employer’s duty under the preceding subsection, the matters to which that duty extends include in particular –
(c) the provision of such information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of his employees.’
Could my business face penalties for failing to provide a safe work environment?
This will come as no surprise – but yes – without proper health and safety measures, you may be subject to penalties, fines, or even legal action. Not only are there the sizable costs involved in having to recruit new team members to combat staff turnover (noted above) but also the very definite risk of being sued should an employee fall victim to a H&S-related accident.
2024 sees HSE inspections continue to rise…
As it’s the employer that bears the legal obligation to safeguard their employees, the accountability will typically fall on those at the highest level should an incident occur. Prosecutions that the HSE have brought forward in the UK boast a staggering 94% conviction rate, showing the emphasis on employee rights and welfare within the law.
As of 2024, prosecutions have seen a reduction in cases – however, HSE inspections are up, and fines remain high.
Want Adequate Health and Safety Training? Get in Touch Today
These benefits of health and safety are just the tip of the iceberg. Thorough health and safety at work policies will transform your business and provide many advantages, both apparent and discreet.
At SMS Europe, we can help with all this and more. We’ve been providing businesses with access to health and safety e-learning courses, as well as on-site lessons, for years. What’s more, we offer an incredible range of workplace safety solutions. From risk assessments and fire marshal training to online COSHH training, we really can do it all.
Simply reach out, and we will work with your business to overhaul the way health and safety fits into your operations. To learn more, email us at [email protected], or call us on 0845 224 0028.
