Page 26 - Gi flipbook - October 2018

HOW TO PROFIT

FROM HEALTH

AND SAFETY

COMPLIANCE

Katharina Busch is a content writer at London-
based health and safety consultancy Arinite. She
regularly writes about workplace safety, health
and safety compliance, and safety business
strategy. Here she talks about the financial
benefits a smart H&S policy can have for your business

ealth and safety is a topic should not be taken lightly. Last year,
that many companies like five out of 222 fatal occupational
to avoid as much as injuries in the UK occurred in the gas
possible; complicated and electricity supply industry.
H legislation and policies Business owners, as well as
are making it difficult to grasp employees and the self-employed
obligations. Seemingly overly strict need to work together to bring this
regulations may appear like a waste of number down to zero.
time and capital. Many business
owners believe there are no HEALTH AND SAFETY
advantages of a good safety policy IN THE UTILITY INDUSTRY
other than avoiding fines. Just like any other industry, the utility or insufficient work. Certainly, some
However, a sloppy attitude towards industry is required to comply with engineers are fully aware of the
safety is very dangerous. In 2017, the HSE the Health and Safety at Work Act. regulations and choose to willingly
recorded 70,116 occupational injuries and If an audit finds compliance disregard them in the hope of
144 fatal accidents in the UK, costing breaches, the company can be issued outrunning the law, but many simply
businesses £14.9 billion in total. with a prohibition note, which don’t understand their obligations and
Research by London health and prevents the firm from carrying out commit violations completely
safety consultancy Arinite has found any further work. Besides business unaware of the ramifications.
that the average safety breach fine for coming to a halt, potentially large
a UK firm is £115,440. Conversely, a fines, bad PR, and a general loss of THE KEY TO GUARANTEEING
medium to large company can expect trust can make it hard for a company SAFE WORK
to pay between £5 and £20k for to recover from such an incident. Engineers are required to register with
safety compliance each year, which Cases of gas engineers being fined Gas Safety Register to become
equates to between five and 18 per for non-compliance are common and certified. All UK companies must
cent of the cost of a single violation. usually result in a suspension. In comply with the Gas Safety
Obviously, non-compliance is not March this year, an amateur gas (Installation and Use) Regulations
profitable for a business. engineer from Milton Keynes was 1998 by law, which include the Health
In 2016/2017, the utility industry fined for carrying out work without and Safety at Work Act, Pipelines
recorded an average of 3,290 work- being registered with Gas Safety Safety Regulations 1996, Gas Safety
related illnesses per 100,000 workers Register, which was later found to be (Management) Regulations 1996, and
(a rate of 3.29 per cent), which is just potentially dangerous to life and the many other pieces of legislation that
slightly above the average of 3,130 property. In August, a landlord in interface with the main HSE
(3.13 per cent) across all industries. Norfolk received a custodial sentence regulations. If an employer has five or
While the utility industry appears to and work suspension for two years for more staff, a written health and safety
be relatively safe compared to failing to maintain gas appliances and policy is mandatory.
notoriously dangerous industries such provide tenants with a gas safety Importantly, only a thorough risk
as construction (3.53 per cent) or certificate. assessment, carried out by a
agriculture (4.35 per cent), the There is a long list of violation cases competent safety consultant, can
potential hazards in the workplace for gas engineers carrying out faulty identify all hazards. Even internal safety

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