Archive for November, 2016

3 reasons why Health & Safety is a help not a hindrance to business

According to some surveys, a significant number of businesses view Health and Safety legislation as a time consuming process and others as an unnecessary burden. However, while it’s true that compliance with Health and Safety law can be complicated, it is certainly worth the investment of your time, as we will explain.

Protect and retain the best employees
Here at Logical Storage we encourage businesses to take their Health and Safety obligations seriously and recognise the potential to profit from good practices. First of all there is the issue of absenteeism. If poor standards lead to an employee being injured then they may be off work for a serious amount of time, leaving your business stretched. This might mean that you have to spend time and money on recruiting and training new staff. While this may not be too much of an issue with lower level employees, replacing your most skilled workers even on a temporary basis can prove difficult.

Employees work best in workplaces that value them and take steps to improve their general well being. A workplace that refuses to take steps to look after the Health & Safety of their employees could be accused of not caring. If accidents happen on a regular basis then you risk a demoralised workforce with higher levels of absenteeism and most likely a high turnover of staff.

Protect your reputation
Next, there are your legal obligations to consider. Employers have a duty to protect their employees and if you fail to take the necessary steps to prevent accidents from happening then you could be liable to costly fines and even imprisonment.  A serious accident in your workplace can also have a damaging impact on the profile of your business as court action will most likely result in negative media coverage for your company, harming your reputation.

Protect your infrastructure
Despite the threats faced by not complying, you should try to see Health & Safety policy as a positive thing. Taking the time to conduct regular inspections of your machinery and infrastructure can pay dividends for your business. For example, if you operate a warehouse and rely on seasonal traffic then you need to make sure that your storage systems are in good shape. Receiving a large and important delivery of stock, only to discover that your racking has become cracked and unusable could be disastrous for your business.  But, by maintaining good Health & Safety standards and practices you can identify problems with infrastructure, storage systems and machinery early on, ensuring that your business remains safe and profitable.

Here at Logical Storage we recognise that Health and Safety legislation should be at the forefront of any business. We help businesses identify problems with their infrastructure by performing rack inspections. Click here for further information or call us on 0845 689 1300.