Occupational health and safety protects your team and your business from accidents, injuries and any potential harmful risks that may occur in the workplace. While accidents can happen at any moment, it is up to the employer to ensure that there is a reduced level of risk when it comes to incidents, accidents and safety at work. Prioritising occupational health and safety brings significant benefits to both businesses and employees – all while making sure the working environment is as safe as it could be.

The Importance of Workplace Health and Safety 

All industries have safety hazards and risks of some nature. The most important aspect of employer responsibility is proactively implementing a well thought out occupational health and safety plan. This will help to identify and address these hazards, and also add in extra enhancing measures such as training, safe equipment and other resources that may be required to establish a secure and healthy working environment. If the right measures and precautions are not taken, it can lead to injury, lower levels of productivity due to absence or illness, compensation claims and potential penalties from governing bodies.

On the other hand, investing in your workplace health and safety can bring significant benefits to your business. These benefits include:

• The reduced rate of risk, accidents and injuries is achieved through identifying, addressing and subsequently mitigating hazards.
• An uplift in efficiency and operational productivity due to fewer employer absences caused by illness or injury.
• More positive levels of employee positivity and workplace morale due to lower levels of stress and injury.
• Reduced costs associated with employee claims caused by accidents or injuries in the workplace.
• Lower insurance premiums as a natural by-product of fewer workplace incidents and compensation claims.

How to Make Your Workplace Safer 

There are many measures you can take to uplift your workplace safety standards. These include:

Pre-Employment Medical Assessments 

These assessments are designed to ensure that a potential candidate is suited to work in your business – this means that you can recruit appropriate individuals who will be successful in their role and reduce potential workplace risks.

Drug and Alcohol Screening 

Drug and alcohol screening searches for substance abuse or historical use of alcohol and drugs to determine individual suitability in the workplace.

Work Fitness Assessments

These are functional assessments that will search for physical markers of an employee’s fitness, performed to determine whether they are suited to the requirements of their role and to address any necessary adjustments that need to be made in their workload or equipment.

Health and Wellness Services 

Investing in a range of workplace wellness and health services will help to raise your baseline and offer more to your team. These services can include vaccination programs, skin checks, health education and nutrition programs.

Discover the range of health, wellness and safety standards for the workplace with the leading providers at JobFit.