Health & Safety
Most people are unaware of the true costs of accidents and ill health at work; across the UK, billions of pounds are lost each year by business through employee absence. Should the absence be the result of an accident, the losses to an employer as well as from a range of consequential costs that cannot be insured.
Even minor accidents cost money: downtime, lost production or sales, time to take an injured employee to hospital, lost skills and expertise while the employee recuperates, training up a temporary replacement.
But what if you did have a serious accident, or even a fatality? How would your business cope? What would be the impact on your staff, your customers, your business finances? How would prosecution affect your business' reputation? But that's why you have insurance, isn't it?
Insurance will normally cover injury, ill health and damage to property but it won't cover many of the hidden costs: lost time, sick pay, extra wages and overtime, production delays, investigation time, certain legal costs, fines, insurance excess and loss of reputation. These are normally borne by the business and can cause a business to close. And a poor safety record or perception of risk can result in higher insurance premiums, refusal of insurance cover in the future or, in the worst scenario, an Insurer's refusal to accept liability for an accident if the business has not met its contractual duties under its Insurance Policy.
If it were a serious incident, resulting in an employee's serious permanent disability or even death, there is the likelihood of prosecution, with the possibility of fines, even for lesser offences, of up to £20,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 2 years.
These risks and costs can, however, be reduced. This process involves:
- identifying the activities and conditions in the business that could cause injury, ill health or property damage
- finding out who is likely to be harmed - employees, visitors, members of the public
- deciding what needs to be done to protect them from harm
- taking action and recording what has been done
- reviewing arrangements from time to time
The problem faced by many businesses is knowing how and where to start. This is where we at tqma can help, by giving you access to the knowledge, expertise and support which you don't have in your business, but which would be time consuming and expensive if you were to undertake the exercise yourself.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. For further information click on the following links, or Sidebar Links:
Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974
Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008