Page 23 - BOSS Today Issue 55

DOWN TO BUSINESS BOSS Today #55

hen it comes to workplace health BOSS recognises the importance “Recent research
Wand safety, most people would agree of reporting near misses, and has
that physical controls can only go so far. developed a Hazard Capture Form, which has shown that
In recent years, the concept of building enables employees to report issues to approximately 90 near
a positive safety culture has gained management.
momentum. A calculation of the rate of accidents misses precede one
Factors affecting your health and safety enables health and safety performance
culture include poor levels of supervision, to be compared between months, years, serious accident at
information and training. A high degree of and organisations. The simplest measure work.”
consultation and involvement with your of the accident rate is called the Incident
workforce in health and safety matters is Rate and is defined as:
crucial for a positive safety culture.
Contrary to what some might believe, Total number of accidents
safety is as valuable as any other Number of persons employed x 1000
investment in your company. Investment
in health and safety will be repaid by BOSS has developed a spreadsheet
enhanced productivity and efficiency, in which your organisation can input
reduced staff absence and reduced staff these statistics. This information can
turnover. A poor safety culture can result in: be used to track how many near misses
or hazards have been reported, and the
n Increased accidents due to risk-taking number of recordable accidents that have
behaviour and shortcuts being taken, resulted in lost working days. The results
leading to production delays, higher can be displayed on health and safety
rates of absence, poor staff retention noticeboards and used to identify accident
and personal injury claims. trends.
n Inflated insurance premiums – if your
performance drops, you are a higher The relationship between health and
risk to insure. safety culture and performance:
n Fines – an accident may lead to
investigation and possible prosecution. n Leadership and commitment to health
n Reputational damage and loss and safety throughout all levels of the
of revenue. organisation are essential.
n Ensure health and safety regularly
Important indicators of a health appears on the agenda for board
and safety culture meetings.
There are several indicators of the state n Prompt investigation of all incidents,
of your health and safety culture, but accidents and reports should be made,
the most important are the numbers of including any remedial actions taken.
accidents, near misses and occupational n Use systems for monitoring equipment,
ill-health cases occurring in your processes and procedures and the
organisation. While the number of prompt rectification of any defects.
accidents may give a general indication n Utilise relevant employee
of the health and safety culture, more training programmes, communication
detailed statistics are normally required. and consultation procedures.

Measuring safety culture For more information about safety
Near-miss reporting reduces the risk of culture, contact your BOSS Health &
injury. According to the Accident Triangle, Safety Adviser. Details can be found at
there is one serious accident for every 300 www.bossfederation.com/H&SContact.
near misses. More recent research has
shown that approximately 90 near misses
precede one serious accident at work.

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