Health and Safety adds Value to Business

Tinus Boshoff

Employers have a legal obligation to provide safe and healthy working conditions to all employees, and their work activities may not expose others – such as customers or suppliers, or the surrounding community,  - to hazards and risks. If an employer does not comply with legislation, a penalty or prosecution or even criminal liability will be the result.

Implementing such measures will save you money, improve productivity, and increase employee morale in your business. Organisations often incur financial losses associated with occupational injuries and illnesses, expenditures that come straight out of company profits. These losses include costs such as legal fees, fines, compensatory damages, investigation time, lost production, lost goodwill from the workforce, from customers and from the wider community.

Ignoring the risks involved in the daily running of your business also impacts on the following:

• The health and safety of employees and others (Contractors, customers, visitors and the community)
• Your reputation, credibility and status
• Public and customer confidence in your organisation
• Your financial position
• Damage to plant, equipment and the environment

Poor occupational safety and health performance results in cost to the State (e.g. through social security payments to the incapacitated, costs for medical treatment, and the loss of the "employability" of the worker).  If potential hazards or risks are not properly managed,  it will result in loss to organisational resources. In some cases the consequence could be detrimental to man as well as the environment. 

Injuries and illnesses also decrease productivity, morale, and profits. These costs can be the difference between operating in the black or ending up in the red.  Pro-actively managing – and thus preventing or at least minimising -  occupational and  environmental accidents and ill health before they occur makes good management sense.

When things go wrong, your hard-earned profits go out the window. If risks are pro-actively and properly managed, incidents will be reduced, production will rise and insurance premiums can be limited to the minimum.  A safe workplace provides the consistency and reliability needed to build and grow a business.

Workplaces with active safety and health leadership have fewer injuries, are often considered by employees to be "better places to work," and have more satisfied, more productive employees. These employees return to work more quickly after an injury or illness and produce higher-quality products and services.

Safe environments improve employee morale, which leads to increased productivity and better service.  Businesses operate more efficiently when they implement effective safety and health management systems. Workplaces that establish safety and health management systems can, without doubt,  reduce their injury and illness costs. 

A health and safety system helps to effectively manage workplace hazards, risks and dangers within the organisation, avoiding unwanted and unnecessary loss. In short, investing in health and safety should be seen as a great investment for the organisation in the long run.  

At Labour Guide we take the guesswork out of workplace safety and health by providing information and expertise to help businesses tailor solutions to meet their needs.

Safety greetings 

Tinus Boshoff This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 083 659 2840