36 . Glasgow Business February 2016


H&S statistics for Great Britain Source: www.hse.gov.uk Labour Force Survey


Continued from previous page>


control these risks. It’s not just about identifying the risks to employees but to others that come into the workplace, such as contract workers, maintenance workers, visitors and, importantly, members of the public. Te risk assessment will be the basis of the H&S policy. It’s also important to consult employees on the H&S policy, giving them the opportunity to raise concerns and influence decisions on the organisation’s management of health and safety. A small company can do this with face-to-face meetings, but larger organisations may want to establish a H&S representative. As an employer, you cannot decide who will be the representative. Te HSE have a new campaign called


‘Helping Great Britain work well’ which promotes employers to not only work together to take steps to tackle ill health but to also ensure employees get involved too. Omar Khalid, Manager, Health & Safety with


Glasgow-based independent environmental and engineering consultancy Mabbet & Associates, said: “It’s something that has always been part of the HSE strategy but the new drive is puting an emphasis on everyone geting involved to share and adopt H&S best practice. “Te campaign has six themes and these are


all issues we commonly get involved with ranging from the provision of H&S advice, to workplace audits and risk assessments, and technical services including occupational hygiene.” Not all health and safety risks involve physical


harm; stress has been recognised as a considerable issue in the workplace and is now the single biggest cause of sickness in the UK. HSE recorded 10.4 million days lost to stress in 2012 in the UK, and commentators, using £618 as the average cost of a sick day, have estimated that this issue cost the UK economy nearly £6.5 billion. Stress is estimated to affect one in five of the


working population, so that means 20 per cent of an organisation’s workforce may not be functioning to its full potential and is in danger of “going sick”. Tere is also the issue of ‘presenteeism’ – the


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estimated cost of injuries and ill health from current working conditions (2013/14)


£14.3bn


working people suffering from a work-related illness


1.2m 142


workers killed at work


2014/15 27.3m working days lost due to work-


related illness and workplace injury


611,000


injuries occurred at work according to the Labour Force Survey


76,000


other injuries to employees


reported under RIDDOR


term given to stressed or sick employees who turn up to work tired and disengaged and not performing at their peak – reducing productivity as well as increasing risk. Stress can come from many sources, both


at home and from work. According to the Labour Force Survey, the main work factors cited by respondents as causing work-related stress, depression or anxiety were workload pressures, including tight deadlines, too much responsibility and a lack of managerial support. Managers have a crucial role to play in


spoting the signs of stress in employees through regular interaction or formal meetings and work appraisals, as well as annual ‘staff satisfaction’ surveys. Douglas Cameron from Law at Work said


employee satisfaction surveys are a useful tool to spot stress “hot spots” within an organisation generally, but they have to be carefully worded to draw critical information out from the recipients.


Did you know? In 2014/15, stress accounted for 35% of all work-related ill health cases and 43% of all working


days lost due to ill health Source: Labour Force Survey


Douglas explained: “Nowadays, if you ask


someone if they are stressed out, nine times out of 10 they are going to say yes. If you ask this in an employee satisfaction survey you are going to open the floodgates. “You need to illicit this information in a more


general way which is related to the employee’s interaction with the organisation. Te source of any stress issue can be found indirectly through questions about the understanding of their roles, managerial support and communications, as well as asking their opinions in ways to make the working environment more supportive and giving them the opportunity to make their voice heard. “Tat is the best way to get an accurate


reflection of the level of stress in the organisation, the reasons for it and its pertinence to the business.” Apart from keeping employees safe there is


also a strong financial incentive to take H&S seriously, particularly from the government’s new health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter and food safety and hygiene offences guideline, which indicates higher sentencing fines for health and safety and environmental cases.


SAFETY FIRST


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