5 Negative (and Expensive!) Ways Health & Safety Issues Can Impact Your Business

Health and safety is not something that should be taken lightly. As an employer it’s your responsibility to maintain the working environment to ensure the wellbeing of your employees. Here are just a few ways in which bad health and safety policies can impact your business.

Low productivity

Health and safety regulations are there to support the day-to-day running of your business, no matter what industry you’re in. Failing to acknowledge health and safety regulations can impact employee morale. If you don’t show your employees you value their safety with basic workplace requirements, they may not feel motivated to work. Not only this, if machines keep breaking down all the time, this will also impact productivity.

For example, if you work in a manufacturing business, you’ll need to be working with the correct tools, in an environment that’s safe and appropriate for the task at hand. Employees will work much more effectively in a safe, clean and well maintained environment, which will increase productivity and improve your bottom line.

Increase in legal and insurance costs

One of the more obvious repercussions bad health and safety causes is the financial impact. If you neglect your employer responsibilities you could face expensive fines and legal costs. As well as getting into trouble with the law, failing to provide a safe work environment will more than likely see you inundated with insurance claims. If someone was hurt on your property they have the right to claim financial compensation from you. This not only means a loss of finances per claim, it also means an increase in your overall insurance premium.

Someone could get seriously hurt

At the end of the day, as an employer you’re responsible for people and their wellbeing. This is why health and safety should be at the forefront of your business, especially if you naturally work in a high risk environment such as a construction site. Neglecting your health and safety responsibilities can result in someone seriously hurting themselves and even fatalities.

58% of employees in a survey conducted only last year states that employees don’t know the basic health and safety rules of their workplace. To improve the safety of a working environment you need to make sure you have communicated good practice rules. You also need the appropriate industry tested tools and equipment, which are all regularly maintained.

Absent employees and a high turnover rate

Employees that have become a victim to bad health and safety will mean they’re unable to work. This, amongst other things, will impact you financially both directly and indirectly. Some of the costs will include paying out for sick pay for the absent employees. This will also impact your output as you won’t have the staff to maintain full capacity. It may also lead to the employee leaving all together, causing a high staff turnover rate and increasing further recruitment cost.

Bad reputation

No matter what your business, from hospitality, marketing to manufacturing, a good reputation is vital in the growth and success of a company. Bad health and safety compliance can cause people to talk. Not only will it not attract new employees, it’ll also deter clients and business partners. It clearly shows to the outside world that you cannot keep on top of your management responsibilities. An unorganized employer doesn’t sound very professional, does it?

Health and safety doesn’t have to be complicated, but there are a lot of areas that it covers which help protects you, your business and your employees.