Why do office staff need health and safety training?

In office environments, health and safety is often ignored.

Many employers ask me, why do office staff need health and safety training? Many also believe that it’s only in construction, manufacturing, engineering and other high risk industries that risk controls must be in place. Yet, injuries and ill health associated with office work are well documented, often resulting in absence from work being much longer than employers anticipated.

Office workers must receive training and information too, on the risks associated with their job, for example, DSE, work station design and manual handling.

Hot on the heels of the new Sentencing Guidelines that came into force on the 1st February this year, the HSE has just launched its Helping Great Britain Work Well campaign. It gives us the latest statistics and information on ill health and injuries in the workplace. They state that ‘getting risk management right is an enabler for productivity, innovation and growth and is integral to business success as well as the well being of workers’.

The  six key themes that they have shared are:

• Acting together
• Tackling ill health
• Managing risk well
• Supporting small employers
• Keeping pace with change
• Sharing our success

We are one of the safest nations in the world, but there’s still lots to do to reduce the cost of workplace ill health, fatalities, injuries and lost work days. The comparison with ten years ago is very positive and encouraging, although we see that the UK economy is still footing a £14.3m bill.

My role as a health and safety advisor and consultant involves educating and supporting employers to participate in, and lead health and safety practice and procedures in their workplace. This can sometimes prove quite difficult when the employer doesn’t appreciate that everybody requires suitable and sufficient health and safety training to be able to work safely and without risk to health.  It’s also a means to an end in that, prevention is better than cure. The benefits of training are endless.

In her latest blog, Judith Hackitt, Chair of the HSE asks the following:

• Does your personal contribution to health and safety really help others – or hinder?
• Is ownership and responsibility for health and safety in the right place in your organisation?
• Is it on the right things?
• What could you personally do differently in 2016 that will really help us to create an even better health and safety system in GB?
• Are you prepared to make a resolution to do something different in 2016?

If you struggle to answer any of the questions above,why not organise a health and safety workshop and learn how you can make a difference to your business. You can find out why and what health and safety issues matter to your industry. From office to engineering, schools to shops, every workplace needs health and safety.

For more information, advice and support, get in touch.

Email: michelle@michellehay.com, Call: 0161 298 1040