As an employer, keeping your employees safe on the job should always be your top priority. Workplace safety training helps to make sure your employees are able to effectively report problems and identify safety hazards they may come across.
In addition to the core purpose of ensuring your employees are safe, you want to ensure your insurance premiums are as low as possible and prevent loss of productivity due to when an employee is inadvertently injured. Workplace health and safety training is crucial to ensuring this.
Making an effective workplace safety training program can be challenging, though. Making sure you not only hit all of the points you’re legally required to hit but also making sure your employee’s voices are being heard can be extremely hard to manage while you’re trying to run your business.
Despite difficulties, there are countless reasons why you want to have effective workplace safety training practices in your company, and this article will detail some of the most important reasons for you to keep in mind when planning your next safety training exercises.
Make A Focus on Communication
If your employees are unable to communicate upwards when they notice a problem, no amount of training will matter. You need to ensure you have training programs that include clear ways for your employees to reach out if they think something is wrong.
You also need to ensure management is prepared to respond to safety concerns brought to them. Rather than being punitive, your management should be trained on being proactive in addressing safety concerns and questions. Try having safety training manuals accessible to your management and employees to ensure they’re able to reference any common questions or concerns that pop up in your workplace.
Workplace Safety Training Makes Financial Sense
Not only are your employees less likely to get in an accident, investing in safety training programs can save your business’ bottom line. For every dollar you invest in safety communications like digital signage or posters, you’re estimated to save about six dollars in loss.
With over 238,100 work-related injury claims in New Zealand in 2019 alone, it’s more crucial than ever to focus on workplace health and safety training. Moreover, staff turnover is costly. Keeping your employees safe keeps them satisfied, and keeping them satisfied benefits employee retention.
You also want to save money on your insurance premiums, and should an accident occur, expect to see heavy increases in the amount you pay.
Having proper safety training programs helps your brand look good in the public eye as well. If you have a clean workplace, visible fire extinguishers and visible safety rules posted, members of the public interacting with your business are likely going to see you as a trustworthy business.
Workplace accidents are costly enough, but the bad PR that comes along with them can be far more costly for your business and your brand. Health and safety training is a necessary cost that actively prevents workplace accidents and bolsters your reputation as a champion of your workers and their wellbeing.
Go Beyond Workplace Safety Training Requirements
Many workplaces are required to have training programs by law, but simply abiding by the admittedly basic legal requirements isn’t enough to show your employees and customers you care about how safe your workplace is.
Of course, you want your employees to know the requirements of WorkSafe, but there may be specific things that apply to your workplace that are crucial for your employees to understand.
You should also strive to ensure all of your employees, regardless of their position within your company, are included in training and tested on the training you’ve implemented. This makes sure your workers retain information and are prepared to respond to safety situations that pop up, but they also serve to judge how well you as an employer have done in training your employees.
Health and Safety Training Consultants Can Help
The importance of health and safety management in the workplace is about knowing what is required of your business and what is in your team and customers’ best interest.
Having access to the right information and training materials for your team is as simple as contacting your local health and safety department or a consulting firm.
HasTrak can assist: We are experienced health and safety consultants and advisors who specialize in running detailed audits and risk assessments, building COVID-19 health and safety management systems and manuals, and on-and-off-site workplace safety training and consultancy tailored to your workplace and team.
Too many businesses risk going bankrupt over fines following simple workplace accidents; fines that can easily be avoided by knowing what you’re working with, and having your paperwork up to date. We’ll help you do exactly that! Contact us today to receive a personalized quote!
