How To Manage Health and Safety at Workplace?
Managing Health and Safety
The main objective of managing Health and Safety at any workplace is to prevent injury, illness and death at the workplace. Any kind of injury within the organization can put the employees and his family in financial difficulty.
Due to the injury of a worker, not only does his family suffer financially, but the employer also has to suffer financially.
Practice is required to bring into effect the rules related to health and safety at the workplace and unless the employees adopt a proactive approach for this, the rules and regulations related to health and safety set within the organization will not be affected as much.
To manage Heath and Safety at the Working Place, there is a need to evaluate the workers when they are injured or sick, or after the implementation of a new standard or regulation. Which tells in which area there is a need for improvement.
Apart from this, we can manage health and safety much more when we find out the factor affecting health and safety before starting the work and start the work again after removing it.
If you set a target to prevent health and safety at your working site and evaluate it, then you can progress to a higher level of safety and health.
Why Should We Manage H&S at Workplace?
There are three main reasons for managing health and safety within any organization.
1. Moral Reason (Ethical Reason)
2. Legal and Social Reason
3. Financial Reason (Economic Reasons)
Let us understand it in detail.
1. Moral Reason (Ethical Reasons)
It is not morally acceptable that if people go to any organization/industry to do the same, then they get in danger, that is, they get injured while working. If a person gets injured during work, that is, while working, the person starts facing problems related to health and safety, then he has to return to his family at the end of time. This occurs when a person becomes unable to work due to injury or illness.
When an employee dies in an accident or gets injured during work, suffers from a terrible disease, he is not only the victim but also his family, dependents, friends and those who work with him. have a bad effect.
That’s why it is necessary to pay special attention related to health and safety to the employees to avoid such sufferings to the workers.
2. Legal and Social Reason
Most people consider legal and social reason to be the same but there is a slight difference between the two. The meaning of making law is that it fulfills the social expectations and protects the rights of the people. Here I am describing the legal and social reason separately, but if necessary it can be combined into one.
Let us understand it separately –
a. Legal Reason
Let’s understand Legal Reason through the following points.
The meaning of making law is that it should protect human rights. Therefore, it forces the employer to solve the problem related to the health and safety of the employees. It becomes his moral responsibility.
What happens is the law that gives guidelines to the employer on how to operate the business and organization, that is, the law controls the business and organization.
The law determines the rights and responsibilities not only of the employer but also of the employees so that they can be made accountable for the same.
To operate an organization and to obtain a license, local laws have to be followed.
If the law prescribed by the employer is violated or the organization fails to follow the law, then the owner can be prosecuted in the court.
If an employer violates the law, then there is a provision for punishment, but there is also a law to prevent punitive damages. Nevertheless, if the law is completely violated by the employer and the worker is found involved in any kind of criminal activity within the organization, then both imprisonment and fine can be imposed.
There is also a compensatory effect of the law, where the employee can also sue in the court for compensation by proving the negligence of his boss.
b. Social Reason
Within the Organization/Industry, the expectations of the workers are different with respect to the standards of redemption during any work. But the one thing that is common in all these is that all the workers want to work in a safe environment. In which apart from safe work place, safe access and egress, safe plant and equipment, adequate training and supervision is required. And there is a need for competent employees at the workplace.
The expectations of the workers keep on increasing according to the time and according to this demand the law keeps on changing. To meet the expectations of the workers, the organization needs to improve the standard of behavior.
3. Financial Reason (Economic Reason)
The owners of the organization understand the expenditure on health and safety as an additional cost. But many people believe that this is not true. They say that the employer says that the expenditure on health and safety saves us from the loss of accidents due to lack of safety.
But many employers deny it whereas the truth is that if special attention is given to health and safety within the organization, then it prevents the direct cost and indirect cost coming after the accident.
If high motivated workplace i.e. health and safety is being followed within any organization, then the employer can earn a lot of financial profit due to this. The reason behind this is that the rate of its product and service can increase.
In whatever field the industry is working, its turnover is more than its competitor, due to which the image and reputation of the organization increases and its product makes its place in the market.
If the law related to heath and safety is followed, then there is a stop on the accident and the loss that the organization had to bear due to filling the insurance premium, it declines significantly and the turnover of the organization increases.
(NEBOSH) The National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health – 2023
NEBOSH Course Fees: Everything You Need to Know
NEBOSH International Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety (NEBOSH IDIP)
