The 4 Pillars Of Creating A Winning Health And Safety Strategy
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The task of implementing safety measures is an unenviable one. There are so many different variables that we have to cover, and when we look at creating an effective health and safety strategy, there are so many boxes to tick that we can become overwhelmed. There are, however, several key considerations to ensure that when analyzing what your business needs, it's all predicated on a winning health and safety strategy. Here are the following key elements that you should absolutely address:
Risk Identification
Identifying risks and controlling risks should not be reactive. Prevention is always key, and this is where regular risk assessments and subsequent appropriate control measures will make a huge difference in how you tackle the topic of risk. It's always about the environmental factors and understanding that with an appropriate SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis, you have the right tools to create an effective approach to identifying risk.
For example, with employees working at heights, there are factors such as fall restraint and fall arrest which would result in determining the right type of equipment. A fall arrest harness protects you after you fall, but a fall restraint will keep someone in place when working at heights. Risk identification will be an invaluable part of health and safety. So many people bemoan risk assessments, thinking it's one piece of red tape too far; however, we cannot bypass this because if there is a risk, we will have to ensure that the risk is minimized or eliminated.
Regulatory Compliance
This is a task that is not just tough for small businesses but is one that changes on a regular basis. There are a variety of ISO standards that are critical to creating a winning health and safety strategy. Ultimately, the strategy should manage and reduce workplace risks, protect employees, and comply with relevant laws and regulations, serving as a roadmap to create the safest and healthiest working environment possible.
Regulatory compliance is about developing policies and procedures with clear guidelines and standard operating procedures. We need to ensure that our strategy complies with the relevant standards, regulations, and industry best practices, and this can be a minefield in and of itself. Therefore, working with an organization that specializes in health and safety (if you have the option) can provide a far better approach to how you, as a business, would encounter issues with compliance.
The motivation to comply with relevant health and safety standards and regulations is vital because if you don't, you could be penalized, which could be a financial sanction or a warning. Either way, it can be detrimental to your business if you do not comply. A strategy should not just be rigid enough to comply with the standards and regulations but is there to recognize that, in the grand scheme of industry best practices, you align with the legal requirements of your industry.
Assign Responsibility
One of the fundamentals of effective health and safety management is defining the roles and responsibilities of everybody within the organization. No stone should go unturned, and everybody from senior management right down to individual employees should understand their level of accountability. The best way to do this is to have a clear bible of policies and procedures but also encourage regular updates of this and offer comprehensive training on safe working practices for employees so they are all well informed about health and safety policies and procedures.
There is a tendency to blame the bosses, and while the top brass are the ones with the responsibility, we have to focus on creating a culture within our business that prioritizes continuous improvement. Regularly reviewing and updating our strategy can help to address new hazards and improve existing measures. It should be a case of looking at what you've got, how you can improve it or fine-tune it, and then progress. This should be a regular occurrence. Ultimately this can be dictated by certain regulatory rules, for example, having electrical items tested for faults on an annual basis will most likely mean annual testing for all electrical equipment and other associated components.
Commitment
This is an area that again stems from the culture of the organization. Health and safety initiatives have a reputation of being dry and dull, and the subject matter can be something that invariably means a huge level of indifference. We need to involve employees and managers in health and safety initiatives correctly. If we define roles and responsibilities to ensure accountability and effectiveness, everybody has their own specific duty for the sake of the organization.
We should also not portray it as an essential task that slowly slips down the priority list, but rather, make it integral to the bigger picture. This is where having a dedicated health and safety officer can make a big difference because it becomes their responsibility, but this doesn't solve the problem of making it a key part of the culture itself. Instead, we must recognize that in order to deliver winning health and safety strategies, we must be firmly committed to it for a specific period of time so we can see the results.
Within businesses, employees can benefit from understanding the bigger picture, which they seldom do because of a culture of clear delineation of duties which means that people do not need to see what goes on in the business as a whole. This is why organizations can benefit from hiring the right people but also slowly working on providing a clear message to employees that the culture is not just for the sake of the employee or the business, but for every single aspect.
Developing a winning health and safety strategy is essential to every business' success. Ultimately, it comes from the top down, and creating this culture of safety throughout the organization should come from leaders and managers who should lead by example, not just by following safety policies and procedures, but by ensuring the business as a whole is a better one in every single way because health and safety is a priority.
