Businesses benefit from investing in well-being

Efforts are on to help companies, including those in Barbados, see safety and health in the workplace as an investment in their business, rather than a cost.

Officials of the International and Caribbean branches of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) were in Barbados last week to speak to government, labour and private sector representatives about creating healthier and safer work environments and the spin-off benefits of such, including higher productivity.

Speaking with The Barbados Advocate during his visit, President of IOSH, Graham Parker said that globally too many organisations are ignoring safety, resulting in fatalities and injuries, and he wants to see that change. This he said requires an “awakening”, for persons to recognise that instituting health and safety practices in their businesses will not be a burden.

“There is a preconception that health and safety will stop me doing something, so I won’t engage, or health and safety is going to be a burden on me and I don’t want that burden. Members of IOSH are true health and safety professionals and we have academic research to prove that actually. We can save companies money in the long-term because we can improve the productivity of organisations; we can improve the motivation there, where there is a well-being and happiness in organisations because employees feel they are looked after, cared for and valued,” he said.

Parker added, “We are here to help businesses grow, we are not here to put them out of business.”

With that in mind, he said that one of the greatest challenges to safety and health in the workplace is a failure to get the buy in of management. He explained if the management do not believe it and act on it, then it does not filter down throughout the organisation. As such, he said it is imperative that owners, managers and boards of businesses understand that good health and safety is good for business. However, he made it clear that there does not have to be a full-time health and safety specialist in every organisation. He noted that smaller entities can utilise the services of competent persons, including members of IOSH of which there are over 47 000 in 120 countries, to get their establishments up to scratch and then allow them to come in periodically to conduct reviews, while it would serve large entities better to have such persons based in-house.

Adding to his comments, Curt Cadet, Caribbean Branch Chair of IOSH said that entity is working to help countries within the region develop an overall sense of appreciation for health and safety in the workplace; an appreciation of the employees, and a moral stance that people ought not to be put at risk in order to make a living.

“If it is not something we would put our child to do, we have to question then how is it safe for somebody else to do that job. We are about helping the countries, helping the businesses, the unions as well as the governments develop the framework and shape the culture to improve health and safety in the workplace,” Cadet stated.

He added, “I know what it is like to face a workplace fatality, apart from the personal side of it, which is the most important side of it, there is the business aspect of a fatality. A fatality is very disruptive to an organisation. It literally has the potential to shutdown the operations, even permanently, based on how strong that company is. Reputation wise, it is very damaging and it could affect your business in that your trade partners are now sceptical and will want to do audits on your organisation to ensure they want to continue the relationship.”

He maintained that given those negative aspects of workplace injuries, it makes extremely good business sense to invest in safety. (JRT)