Health & Safety in the Workplace: Why It’s More than Education

It’s opinion in many businesses that, by offering each member of staff training in occupational health and safety, they are sufficiently prepared to manage any situation. The truth is that, regardless of the industry you’re in, employees require more than a basic education in health and safety legislation. You need to provide your staff with an enthusiastic supervisor, not to mention equip them adequately and give them the opportunity to practice.

Every team needs an efficient supervisor to keep an eye on staff performance, but this individual also needs to play another role in the business. Your choice of supervisor must see the importance of health and safety education and be able to get other employees feeling enthusiastic.

As well as observing health and safety legislation, the task of a supervisor also often includes maintaining staff performance levels. Of course it isn’t easy to achieve all this at once. In depth industry knowledge is an essential for a supervisory job not to mention a very high level of understanding of the latest legislation involving safety, risk appraisal and CPR. It’s just not sufficient to provide your staff with health and safety training. They must practise risk assessment and the identification of hazardous areas. Employees have to know the best way of eliminating problems and also how best to act when anything unforeseen happens. Your workers are only protected when all they have been taught has become automatic. Proper safety apparatus is equally as critical to the well-being of your employees as the training itself. When they don’t have apparatus they require, or learn that they’re not functioning correctly only after an emergency has happened, even the most advanced instruction is not going to help them. It is vital to perform detailed checks frequently to ensure that all the required gear is there as well as checking that it is all in good repair. If you have a issue with your safety apparatus, ensure that it is remedied quickly and put it back in the proper place.

Your staff must have appropriate health and safety instruction, however they also require quality apparatus, the opportunity to practise, and a supervisor who can motivate your staff. Only then will following the safety regulations be ingrained in your business culture rather than something for employees to think about constantly.

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Published in: Health, Managers World, Unassigned | on November 22nd, 2009 |

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