At Boss Training, it’s our business to take health and safety seriously. Not only are we serious about it when we’re delivering our many training courses, we’re also serious about it in our own workplace. However, in a culture of ‘elf and safety’ myths, is health and safety taken seriously enough?
All you have to do is a quick Google News search for ‘health and safety’ and you will be presented with pages of horror stories of accidents and fatalities that are attributed to poor health and safety, and ultimately call for more stringent rules and regulations.
To achieve good health and safety standards in the workplace, there are a number of parties who must take the issues seriously and things to consider too.
The Governing Bodies
Health and safety standards start with those who create and enforce the rules and regulations. The responsibility falls to the HSE and local authorities who are there to ensure that workplaces meet health and safety requirements and may even conduct inspections.
It is vital that these governing bodies take the issues seriously, issuing penalties where necessary and helping companies to improve and maintain their safety standards. Without tough regulations and enforcement, standards are bound to slip.
Over the years, health and safety regulations have become stricter and fines have become larger. In fact, IOSH found that in 2016 there were 19 fines of £1 million or more, compared to just three in 2015 and none in 2014. This suggests that the governing bodies are taking health and safety more seriously than ever before.
The Employers
A great deal of the responsibility falls on the employer who must ensure that their staff are equipped to carry out their duties in a safe way and in a safe environment.
We meet many employers when we are delivering health and safety courses, the majority of whom clearly take their responsibilities seriously. Of course, if they are meeting us, they have taken it seriously enough to invest in training for themselves or their staff.
However, there are still many employers out there who are not taking these issues seriously enough for a variety of reasons. You only need to look at the number of penalties and fines that are handed out each year to see that some employers simply do not value health and safety as highly as they should.
The Employees
It is not only up to the employers to make sure their employees stay safe at work – it is also up to the employees themselves. If employees are equipped with the correct information, training, equipment and environment, employers would expect them to maintain and uphold the requirements.
However, this is not always the case, sometimes simply because the regulations are not taken seriously. While this can be a problem, many of the workers who may disregard health and safety regulations do so due to a lack of training or information.
The Course Providers
This leads, then, to those who provide health and safety training. It is essential that when we are training delegates, we take the subject seriously so we can ensure that those attending the course receive a high level of training and go away fully informed.
We are committed to providing training courses that help keep your staff and your business safe. Please do take a look at our available courses and get in touch with a member of our team if you would like more information.