The COVID-19 pandemic and changing economic landscape has found many companies facing revenue and profitability drops and an uncertain future. This in turn forces a change in business practices as companies find ways to drive efficiencies throughout their business.

Current Pressures on Business Include:

• Urgent need to make savings, find efficiencies and improve profitability
• Restricted budgets
• Headcount freezes
• Reduction of overheads
• Need to outsource certain parts of the operation

Despite these pressures, the management of health and safety remains an essential a discipline as ever. It could be argued that now, even more than before, companies must ensure that they are managing their risk to safeguard their remaining profits and protect their future.

With many companies shedding headcount across all sectors of the business and merging roles where once there was a dedicated HSE position the health and safety function may now be sat within HR, Operations or Facilities; leaving staff ill equipped or trained to manage their new and vital responsibilities.

Or perhaps the company is an international one. Are the health and safety functions now being managed overseas by a shared resource with little understanding of local and Federal HSE laws ? With continuing travel restrictions in place is the shared resource trying to manage restrictions remotely – with ineffective results driving concerns regarding compliance ?

So with our insight into what is driving companies to contracting out health and safety support, what are the benefits that could be derived from it ?

Cost Reduction Benefits:

• Removes headcount, recruitment and resourcing challenges
• Removal of the need for spend on: staff visas, healthcare, flights, holiday, sickness and gratuities. IT infrastructure, onboarding costs such as recruitment costs, training, HR, payroll

Flexibility Benefits:

Spend only as and when you need it; fix a monthly cost allowing spend control then add additional days only when required

• Can easily be temporarily upscaled at times of increased workload
• Gives access to the immediate provision of expert HSE advice
• Manages traditional seasonal productivity drops
• Can provide immediate additional third-party health and safety consultancy specialist support to mitigate damage, such as after an accident, incident or near miss

Knowledge Benefits:

• Will provide immediate access to highly skilled and/or specialized local UAE HSE Consultant resources with no permanent cost or headcount
• Can access bilingual or multi-lingual HSE Consultancy staff well able to integrate with a clients existing staff and their customers
• Can work as an extension of a company’s existing team to build and increase capability and knowledge levels; leaving the company in a stronger position than ever before once at such as time as the HSE Consultancy contract has ended

 

Increase in Efficiencies:

• An HSE Consultant can provide insight and intelligences throughout company operations; thus aiding efficiencies and productivity
• Will aid in the setting of HSE KPI’s, objectives, leading and lagging indicators
• Will aid the presentation of data in a meaningful way to higher management for their ease of understanding

Reduction of Risk:

• The local HSE Consultant will have in depth knowledge of local laws, reducing the risk of non-compliance and the potential attention of enforcing bodies – ensuring that you stay on the right side of the law !
• Will update you on new legislation, guidance and international best practice – putting right issues before you even know you have them
• Can actively protect companies assets by building health and safety into preventative maintenance
• Will take a step back to provide clarity, transparent and impartial HSE advice and services via an unbiased look at practices; then help to update and improve them

What could an Contracted Out Corporate OHS HSE Consultant do for your Company ?

Imagine having access to a locally based, dedicated expert HSE Consultant. What could they do for your company ? Some examples, but by no means an exhaustive list are below….

• Develop, implement, maintain or improve your company’s health, safety and environmental management system
• Develop or improve your current HSE standards and arrangements; plans, manuals, procedures, forms and registers
• Align your company’s HSE management, environmental or quality system/s so that they may be taken to ISO 45001, ISO 14001 or ISO 9001 accreditation
• Liaise with third parties on your behalf such as; your clients, enforcing authorities, auditors or accreditation bodies
• Ensure that you are up to date and compliant with the latest relevant health and safety legislative requirements and industry best practice
• Conduct hazard and risk assessments to ensure identified risks are managed and effectively controlled with non-compliances logged and recommendations made
• Investigate and analyse incidents/accidents/near misses and make sure lessons learned are shared and communicated to all concerned parties
• Co-ordinate with other departments on health and safety matters e.g. HSE system implementation, identifying and resolving non-corrective actions and their follow up, issuance of internal HSE permits
• Develop employees health and safety awareness in training, awareness sessions or toolbox talks

 

Corporate OHS are UAE based Health and Safety Consultancy whose HSE Consultants offer expert resources and superior performance to give you greater results.

We specialize in creating workable, user friendly HSE systems aligned to business activities and operations.

Our range of health and safety consultancy services includes;

• Health, Safety and Fire risk assessments
• Hazard identification and control measures
• HSE management system development, implementation and review
• Including locally compliant systems such as OSHAD
• And/or accredited systems such as ISO 45001 ISO 14001 and ISO 9001
• HSE legal compliance reviews and audit
• Accident investigations
• Crisis management and business continuity
• Long term or project based HSE outsourcing

In addition to project work and to aid companies in need of HSE resource but without a full time headcount; Corporate OHS also offers the option of a flexible contract and a monthly retainer, giving  access to HSE services without the burden of permanent cost. For enquiries or to find out more about our services, please visit our website or send an email to enquiries@corporateohs.com