A growing number of companies are expressing concerns about employee health and safety. They may need to invest in hiring safety consultants to deal with their concerns. This is especially true as more employees are returning to work as most COVID-19 restrictions have ended. .
Workplace Injuries Rise as More Employees Return to the Office – Even as Other Health Risks Fall
Data from both the United States and United Kingdom shows that the number of workplace injuries has risen, even as fewer employees are sick from illness. This trend is driven by a growing number of employees returning to the workplace and employers neglecting to have adequate safety policies in place.
Data from the BLS shows that the number of illness cases decreased in 2021, with private industry employers reporting 365,200 nonfatal illnesses, down from 544,600 in 2020. This was a drop of 32.9 percent. In 2021, there was a 37.1% decrease in employer reported respiratory illness cases, down to 269,600 from 428,700 in 2020. However, the number of all incidents increased, since a growing number of employees were injured at work.
Part of the issue stems from the fact that employers are doing more to mitigate the risks of infections, but they are not doing as much to prevent accidents. This problem may worsen as more employees are injured at work due to poor safety policies.
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Data from the ONS shows the same problem is occurring in the UK. Last year, the UK’s sickness absence rate decreased from 1.9% to 1.8%, the lowest level since the UK government began collecting records over 25 years earlier. The absence rate was 3.1%. The virus caused sick days, but measures like furloughing, social distancing, shielding, and homeworking helped reduce other causes of absence. The measure reflects total hours lost as a proportion of total hours worked, so it’s not skewed by the government’s furlough scheme. In 2020, nearly half of all Britons did some work remotely, which may have minimized sickness absences due to less exposure to germs and social distancing rules in the workplace. However, the UK also noticed that illnesses and accidents have started increasing as more employees returned to work.
Unfortunately, the number of illnesses and accidents has started to creep up since restrictions ended and more people starting going back to work in the office. This means that employers need to revisit taking steps to solve these problems as sickness and healthcare issues start to rise.
Safety Consultants Are Vital to Company Health and Wellness Policies
The success of an organization depends, quite to an extent, on the capabilities of the employees. They strain their nerve to help organizations gain financial success. Therefore, the health, safety and security of the employees must always remain one of the company’s prime priorities. Companies need to develop health and safety programs, which require input from experienced professionals.
Risk and uncertainty are inalienable parts of a workplace. Keeping these things in mind, the management of the organization takes due care and the necessary steps to ensure the safety and well-being of the employees.
-Are you, too, running a manufacturing unit?
Business, irrespective of size, must be driven by a professional intent. Safety consultants and their roles and services are becoming an important aspect of a modern working ecosystem. This is the reason they are taking the services of these professionals.
Now, the greenhorn in business might question the practicality of hiring these safety consultants. This article can make things clear and dishevel the clouds of doubts. So, let’s get down to the brass tacks.
What Is the Idea Of Safety Consultant?
Safety consultants are professionals who are basically people from outside the business. They provide advice to the management of an organization about occupational health and safety.
Different companies might find different reasons for engaging a safety consultant. This is because the needs of organizations belonging to the different sectors may vary. But if you take the help of a safety consultant, they can mold themselves according to the organizational needs and then provide safety to the organization.
Job Description of Safety Consultants
According to a study, the role of safety consultants keeps on increasing. But they vary according to the situation. Based on the specific requirements, they have specific roles to play.
Evaluating Programs
The first duty of these professionals is to go through the existing security measures and standards, policies, and programs. They can make thorough assessments of it and suggest improvements to the organization.
Identify The Problems of The Workstations and The Office
The second step health and safety consultants must take is to spend time in the workspaces and thoroughly study the security problems that employees face daily.
Safety consultants also personally talk to the employees to learn about their issues. Personalized feedback is highly valued in creating new policies. This is why global companies seek out the input of international health and safety consultancy to understand things closely.
Investigating The Accidents
These groups of professionals try to go close to the accidents and conduct their own studies. Actually, they try to understand things as closely as possible. Based on the observations they make, they provide suggestions to the companies.
Policy Framing
Once the professionals thoroughly understand the risks and safety concerns that affect the state of company, they will help frame policies based on them. They draft safety manuals and response plans.
While writing down the policies, they also focus extensively on the rules, regulations, and protocols of the company and more so on the laws of the land.
Training And Management
The last thing that’s related to the practical aspect is training. They carry out extensive training sessions on different health and safety practices while working in the office.
Why Hire A Health And Safety Consultant?
This is not a very old term, and therefore, people might not have much extensive knowledge and awareness of health and safety consultants. This is why you will find the Internet is filled with queries on hiring health and safety consultants. Let us find out the reasons why businesses must hire safety consultants.
1. Reduction Of Costs
Hiring full-time employees in your company would be a costly affair. But if you seek the input of safety consultants, you can get much better services that are in better alignment with professional standards, which can be important for your financial bottom line. The operation cost of running a company is rising due to inflation, and this move can be one of the positive directions to it.
2. Expert Voice To The Table
Your in-house staff are usually busy with day-to-day operations, especially small mundane tasks that can be time-intensive. Therefore, the concerned employees engaged in multitasking and might not be able to focus on health and safety.
But on the other hand, if you bring in people from outside within a short period of time, they bring the required expertise to your table. Therefore, you need to be aware of this point to bring expertise.
3. A Fresh Perspective
Generally, the health and safety consultants work as a third party, and they bring a completely new and fresh perspective to the table.
The best thing you get here is a completely independent viewpoint devoid of tilting. Fresh perspective on the safety and security of the employees always works for the company’s benevolence. This is one of those things to follow.
4. Covers All the Topics On Safety And Security
Generally, the safety consultants will engage with your employees and discuss diverse perspectives on safety and security.
They cover not only the generic subjects in training but also the recent safety norms accepted internationally. The best part is that you can cover all the topics on safety and security in the workplace.
If an employee fails to attend some discussion sessions, they can repeat it for them. Therefore, as an employee, you can be well assured of the safety and security awareness and policy-making of the company, reaching the employees in different departments.
5. Improve Productivity
Productivity shares a directly proportional relationship with the safety and security of the company. When the management establishes that they have taken constructive steps for the employee’s well-being, it gives them confidence.
With focus and attention, they can improve their productivity. Generally, employees, after a fresh incident within the company, suffer from stress. This hampers not only their productivity but also the confidence.
In that case, the health and safety consultants have a huge role. They work with employees through sessions to ensure they feel safe and secure. This is how the employees directly benefit from the consultant’s services.
What Else?
Apart from the above-mentioned ones, you can get updated workplace safety knowledge. This might not be possible with full-time employees but only with consultants. Finally, the best-kept benefit that awaits you is the company’s reputation.
If people know about your earnest endeavors on safety and security and employee concerns, it will improve your reputation with time. So, you must look for professional services.
