Workplace health and safety - what's the big deal?

Each year, one in every twelve workers in Australia sustains an injury serious enough to lodge a workers compensation claim. If that statistic isn’t eye-opening enough, the annual number of road fatalities is much lower than the annual number of work-related fatalities.

As well as negatively affecting the injured employee and their family, workers compensation costs can cause a financial burden for employers and companies. Improved workplace health and safety can help to reduce (and hopefully avoid) these costs, making way for increased productivity, decreased paperwork and a healthier and happier working life for employees and employers. The following information will outline how you as an employer can be affected, and the steps that you can take in order to avoid these negative consequences.

Why workplace safety should be a priority for all employers

One reason employers should value workplace safety is to comply with legal requirements. Legally, management are responsible for the safety of employees and the safety of any other people who visit the workplace. If an employer allows employees to work unsafely, or does not take precautions to avoid unsafe procedure, they run the risk of breaking the law.

Apart from the obvious legal concerns, remember that you should value workplace safety as a strong benefit to the company. Employees are valuable and a company cannot run successfully without them. When an employee becomes injured and unable to work, the costs to the company are significant. A new or temp employee must be trained to fulfil the role of the injured, production decreases and if property is damaged in the incident, this often has to be replaced, causing major costs to the employer.

Furthermore, the more compensation claims a company has, the higher your workers compensation premiums will get. A safe environment aims to avoid these issues and increase productivity in the workplace.

How to make your workplace safer

Employers can ensure the safety of their employees by managing hazards that may result in injury, long term health issues or even death. It is important that employers IDENTIFY, ASSESS and ELIMINATE all hazards in the workplace .

1) Know your history

A great place to start is by looking at past workers compensation records and hazard reports to determine where and how past accidents have occurred and address these hazards if they still exist.

2) Initiate a culture of awareness

Distribute a hazard form that must be completed by all employees. Ask employees to list anything they would label a hazard (such as location and usage of equipment or machines, how people may be affected by such equipment or machines, how people may be affected by other environmental factors such as noise, fumes, lighting, chemicals etc. and how dangerous they think the hazard is). Make sure that this activity is ongoing by illustrating its importance and making access to forms and more information known.

3) Prioritise your changes

Once hazards have been determined, it is important to prioritise these hazards and deal with the most dangerous hazards first. To do this, think about whether the hazard may cause death or disability, long term illness or serious injury, absence of an employee from work, or first aid, and then prioritise the hazards in this order. Once the hazard has been eliminated, make sure a record is created of the hazard and how it was assessed and dealt with.

Remember that eliminating hazards may result in costs to begin with, but making a work place safe will save a significant amount of money in the long run. A safe work environment means that companies can operate efficiently and successfully while increasing employee performance and productivity, and isn’t that what every company wants?

Need safety-aware staff members? Visit our partners at Psych Press to discover how to make effective recruitment, training, retention and management decisions by identifying employees likely to be involved in workplace accidents. 

Source: Australian Institute of Technology Transfer