Health and safety can be difficult subject to show return on investment on or demonstrate value. Colleagues or managements perception of the HSE Department or HSE Manager can be that we are the people who stop business and prevent progress.
As a health and safety professional it is vital to your success that your value is understood. And that you have the ability to present health and safety data in measurable and quantifiable terms expressly relatable to your company. Giving impactful, insightful and immediately understood information to empower smarter decisions. Predictive indicators as well as lagging ones in place.
Show your Demonstrable Value
In addition, many companies view the achievement of compliance as no longer enough. In large entities in particular, demand is high for health and safety staff to work with other departments. Enabling better decisions, demonstrate commercial astuteness, create efficiencies and savings. Don’t forget that the bottom line is profit and the primary reason for the operation of any business !
You may find it possible to demonstrate the value and benefits of operational safety. However, gaining the attention, commitment and engagement of senior leadership requires the demonstration of benefits at strategic level too though. This can mean articulating the intangible business benefits that good health and safety management can provide. This can be challenging.
It is therefore imperative to know your organisation’s vision, goals and values. Understanding these enables you to explain the positive contribution that health and safety can make. For example, the profitability of a business, its reputation and its resilience during times of change are all inextricably linked to the way its people work together. Ie. it’s culture. Health and safety can help ensure a healthy culture and ensure the companies future and survival in the choppy post Covid-19 waters. Here are my suggestions on how HSE can be used to stay ahead of the crowd.
General Business Financial Reasons for Investment in Health and Safety
- A strong business reputation is essential to attract new clients. The positive image that you enjoy due to your robust risk management will also reflect on your customers and their reputation
- You may have a business that sells directly to individuals. Members of the public take a dim view of employers who do not look after their workforce. Your reputation and sales strength could be ruined in one incident after carefully building a positive image over many years. With the instant power of social media, if something does go wrong you can be sure someone has taken a video or photo of it
- Even in this ultra competitive age when everyone is looking to make economies, most reputable local companies, and certainly international ones and Government divisions are using balanced score card systems giving high weighting to the management of health and safety. You are certainly expected to submit a commercially competitive tender, but not at the expense of your management of HSE
- Customers like to deal with the same staff again and again that they know and like. They don’t want to work with companies who have a high staff turnover. Stress and accidents at work are two of the biggest causes of absences from the workforce today
- The mismanagement of HSE, whether it causes short unscheduled or long-term illness, can have a serious impact on productivity and profits. If workers are having to cover for an absent colleague it can put additional pressures on them, contributing to a knock on effect and increased overall absences in the longer term
Consider Developing and Implementing International ISO Standards
- An increasing number of companies are asking for proof of accredited systems; such as ISO 45001 Management of Health and Safety. Why not future proof your organisation whilst simultaneously ensuring that you have a head start in tendering by implementing this level of system ?
Quantifying Workplace Injuries
Knowing the quantitative value of injury costs could be a key. Identify five workplace injuries that have or could occur in your company and perform an analysis with colleagues from other divisions to determine each of the costs associated with the injuries. Don’t forget to include at a minimum, all of the below factors:
Immediate Incident
- First Aid treatment
- Taking the injured person to Hospital/Doctors/Home
- Making safe the incident area
- Immediate other staff downtime
Investigation
- Staff time investigating the incident
- Interdepartmental meetings regarding the incident
- Time spent with enforcing Inspectors or Solictors
- Involvement of external HSE Consultants
Getting Back to Business
- Sickness salary to injured person
Securing Health and Safety Budget for Future
Many times you may face barriers in investing in health and safety, often due to lack of interest from the management team. Now that you are confident and know your figures inside out why not move forward and use your new knowledge and skills to secure budget for future ! Ideas include:
- When requesting budget for health and safety interventions – such as training programmes, new equipment or risk assessments – focus on what you’re aiming to accomplish, how it will be measured and what would constitute showing success
- Introducing case studies with calculated figures to back up your budget request can be very powerful. There are many examples available you can use from companies who have suffered devasting financial consequences from not adequately spending on the management of their health and safety
- Identify also hot topics that involve other departments and pull in support from them to strengthen your requests. Sales will likely want to be involved to ensure that ISO systems are in place to ensure they can win tenders, HR will want to ensure that money is spent on mental health programmes ensuring talent retention, CEO Office or legal will want to know that the company is operating in compliance with health and safety law
Corporate OHS is a UAE based Health and Safety Consultancy whose HSE Consultants offer expert resources and superior performance to give you greater results.
We specialize in creating cost effective, user friendly solutions aligned to your business activities, operations and budget.
Our range of health and safety consultancy services includes;
- Health and Safety Risk assessments and fire risk assessments
- Hazard identification and control measure implementation
- Gap Analysis and audits
- HSE management system development, implementation and improvement including locally compliant systems such as Abu Dhabi OSHAD and/or accredited systems such as ISO 45001, ISO 14001, ISO 9001 and ISO 50001
- HSE legal compliance reviews and assistance
- Accident investigations
- Business continuity and crisis management
- Long term or project based HSE outsourcing
- Flexible monthly support retainers giving access to HSE services without the burden of a permanent cost
To find out more about our services, please visit our website www.corporateohs.com or send an email to enquiries@corporateohs.com