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Why Health and Safety is important in the Workplace
Today’s world is changing with high rate in all the spheres. Industries are using new machineries, new substances and new methods with advanced technologies in order to lessen the human efforts and improve the productivity. On the top of all, Japan has tested the high speed magnetic levitation train positively at 374 mph to ease the transportation. When manufacturing sector is concerned, a new welding process has been invented to join two high strength metals very quickly without melting the materials. At the same time, the technologies and machineries are being too intricate and needs higher order expertise to handle. The negligence results in unexpected occupational diseases and accidents due to poor response to the sudden events and the insufficient working procedures. Now a days, the health and safety of the employees are being highlighted by experts in everywhere as it impacts the social and financial aspects of the organization.
Purpose of health and safety
- The reputation of the organization depends on the efforts put forth to create a health and safety environment in their premises.
- Increase in productivity due to sustained work capacity of the employees.
- The loyalty among employees could be achieved when the measures are taken to prevent work related illness and accidents.
- Safety professionals identify the emerging risks due to the substances or work processes in line with the continuous changes in the working environment.
- Create safety awareness and implementation of the safety procedures in the working place.
Need for Health & Safety
Recent workplace health surveys show that the employees are normally suffered by five major concerns in the workplace. They are mental health problems such as anxiety, stress &depression, long term sickness, musculoskeletal disorders, poor work-life balance and poor work practices. In addition to that there are other problems such as working overtime, monotony, fatigue, tiredness which lead to health and safety issues in the workplace. These problems upshot in absenteeism among employees and reduce cost-benefit of the organization. That’s why health and safety is being the inevitable point of focus by the organizations than ever before.
Why accidents in Workplace
As far as accidents are concerned in the workplace, experts say that 80% of the accidents are happening only by the fault of the person working in the spot. Furthermore, one-third of the accidents happen due to the usage of hazardous equipments like hand-lift trucks, gears and pulleys, saws and handrails, electric drop lights, etc. Being lethargic while working, poor knowledge of the working environment, poor housekeeping, neglecting safety procedures, unsafe situational and climatic changes, poor attitude of the employees are the other causes for the accidents.
Prevention Strategies
A well- known writer, Mark Twain said “It is better to be careful 100 times to be careful than get killed once”
- Systematic training provided to the employees will assist the employees to avoid the musculoskeletal problems by keeping good ergonometric methods.
- Employees are needed to have special training to use the tools and equipments, to implement best work-practices, and to be equipped with machine controls. This will be supportive to prevent workplace injuries and avoid risks.
- Specialized training programs have to be arranged to learn the emergency procedures and learn first aid training to respond in the emergency situations.
Contribution of Health and Safety providers
Health and safety professionals are being the nerve system of the organizations with aim of protecting employees and preventing accidents in the work premises. They serve as major contributors towards the productivity of the company and increase the cost benefit to the organization. The reputed safety providers produce well-qualified and competent safety professionals for occupational health and safety. They are offering variety of fundamental and tailor-made training programs as per the requirements of the industry.
NIST, the leading health and safety provider in India, has been serving to the safety sector with the motto of ‘we contribute to safety’ since 2008.
