Creating a safe workplace is easier said than done – especially without the right work practices in place. Consequently, many businesses are at risk of violating Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) regulations. Even worse, they may be putting people at risk.
Simply put, WHS is about maintaining a safe workplace and eliminating or minimising anything that could put someone’s wellbeing at risk.
Achieving this goal comes down to a few key focus areas.
- Risk/hazard identification: Spotting a WHS issue that could jeopardise workplace safety.
- Risk/hazard assessment: Analysing that safety issue and the likelihood it could cause harm.
- Risk/hazard mitigation: Performing a procedure to eliminate the potential hazard.
- Environmental impact: Taking appropriate steps to reduce your business’ negative impact on the environment.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 is New Zealand’s workplace health and safety law. It came into effect on 4 April 2016. In short, WHS matters because it’s your legal responsibility.
Barriers that challenge WHS in the workplace
Here are some of the most pressing issues when managing WHS in your business:
- Lack of oversight: Visibility is key when it comes to spotting workplace hazards and preventing injury.
- Paperwork: If you’re relying on paper-based recordkeeping systems, you and your safety officers might be overloaded with paperwork.
- Manual processes: Reporting WHS incidents by hand is slow, tedious and prone to human error.
- Pressure: When demand reaches its peak, it’s easy to let WHS practices fall by the wayside.
- Lack of training: Without any safety training, employees may not be spotting potential hazards.
The benefits of digital WHS on workplace safety
Pen-and-paper methods are fast becoming outdated as an effective way of managing WHS, as they leave much room for human and administrative errors. By digitising your WHS practices with a cloud-based solution, you can effectively solve many of the challenges outlined above.
A digital WHS platform is a tool for managing WHS in your workplace in the most efficient way possible. With digitised WHS management, there are many benefits:
- Simplified compliance: One user-friendly system makes navigating changing standards easy.
- Increased visibility: Onsite data capture allows you to take an accurate look at your operations and assess risk in real time.
- Increased productivity: Fewer accidents and injuries mean you have more time to focus on the tasks at hand. Likewise, WHS management systems drive faster return to work, lower absenteeism rates and improved employee engagement.
- Fewer liabilities: Proactively mitigating workplace hazards decreases your exposure to risk.
- Lower carbon footprint: With less reliance on paper, you effectively reduce your impact on the environment.
Best practices for managing Workplace Health and Safety
Managing the health and safety of your workplace is one of the most difficult responsibilities you have as a business owner. But managing it well? That’s even harder.
To make the job a little easier, it’s important to follow a few best practices:
- Have a written WHS policy.
- Have an adequate training programme.
- Foster a culture of safety leadership from top to bottom.
- Leverage a digital WHS solution.
As a trusted software provider with over 20 years of experience in the safety industry, we know the significance of simplifying WHS.
To learn more about how Lucidity can help you manage safety in your workplace, contact our team or schedule a free demo today.