What does safety mean, and why must all organizations manage health and safety at their workplace?

 

Safety is “the state of being free from all those things or situations that can harm us or damage our property.” Every organization must manage health and safety in its work area for moral, legal, and financial reasons.

THE MORAL REASON:

Workers in unity with safety gear at a workplace.
A depiction of workers united by the moral duty to ensure mutual safety.

According to the International Labor Organization, many accidents occur every year in the construction, agriculture, and fishing industries, and millions of people die or become disabled and unable to work. Moreover, every year, 4% of the global GDP is lost due to work-related diseases and accidents. Every organization is responsible for managing health and safety at their workplace so that their workers can work without exposure to the hazards at their site. The employees enter the organization’s premises to earn money and contribute to the company’s growth. The employees’ families depend on them heavily, so if an accident happens at the workplace and the employee gets injured, their family will suffer. If the employee dies, this is morally unacceptable. That is why the employer should provide their employees with a safe place of work, safe equipment, and a safe work system to work safely and return to their homes without getting hurt.

 

THE FINANCIAL REASON:

If organizations do not implement safety rules in their company, they will be more prone to accidents. Hence,

the employer will have to pay for that in the form of direct costs, such as medical treatment for the victim of the

Balance scale with costs and safety measures.
The economic advantage of safety measures over potential costs.

accident or repair and replacement costs for the damaged and lost products, and indirect costs, which are hard to measure and are at least 10% more than the direct costs such as rehiring and retraining of new staff or losing business reputation. Some of these costs are insured, meaning that the insurance companies are responsible for paying a limited amount of cost (depending on the policy of the insurance companies) to the organization for the medical expenses of the injured person or any damage to the building and equipment. Some uninsured costs include accident investigation costs, sick pay for injured workers, and penalties imposed on the organization by the regulatory authorities. To prevent the loss of money in business, the organization must manage health and safety at the worksite.

 

THE LEGAL REASON:

The International Labor Organization has also imposed some legal duties on the employer to protect their employees from hazards at the site (ILO Convention C155). The International Labor Organization (ILO) and

many other enforcement agencies have made some rules and regulations to protect the workers in the work.

Gavel and law books at a construction site.
The legal necessity of safety standards in the workplace.

area. Moreover, every organization must follow all these rules made by the enforcement agencies. If any organization fails to follow these rules, the enforcement agencies will act against them. At first, the enforcement agencies will give the organization a general notice, and after that, they will stop the dangerous work, or they may also suggest some control measures to the company, and even the enforcement agencies can revoke the organization’s license.

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