COVID-19 has undoubtedly changed the environmental, health & Safety (EHS) landscape. EHS priorities will become key areas of strategic focus for senior leadership, as EHS leaders juggle a broad range of high priority goals and evolving strategies.
Everyone should have the right to return home from work safe and well. This vital responsibility has been sharply underlined by the COVID-19 pandemic. Every business has been required to make the safety of staff and customers their number one priority since it began.
In December, HSE published statistics that cover work-related ill health, non-fatal workplace injuries and enforcement action taken by HSE, in the 2020/21 period:
The pandemic has affected certain data collection and impacted on assessment of trends, therefore there is no new data on working days lost and the associated economic cost for 2021.
As seen with COVID-19, risk can come from anywhere, so employers must remain vigilant, regularly monitoring and assessing their processes and procedures to make sure they meet the required standards.
Examining the trend over the last five years, on average there have been almost 150 fatalities per year. Every life is precious and every one of these people leave behind bereaved family, friends and colleagues. It is important businesses are conscious of the dangers that exist around their operation.
Helen Jones, Chief Operating Officer – Enterprise at Alcumus, commented: “It is sobering to see such a high number of ill health incidents occurring in UK workplaces and highlights the impact COVID-19 has on people’s health and mental wellbeing.
“Businesses, large and small, have a fundamental duty of care to protect its employees. The long-term impact of serious ill-health conditions can be grave, and if you do not have a health and safety expert within your organisation, it can be hard to know if you’re doing enough to protect your employees. It is very easy to miss the mark, so it is helpful to turn to professional expertise where needed and put robust risk management and software solutions in place to assess and act, in the best interest of your people, which are the most important asset in any organisation.”
Find out how Alcumus can help you embed health and safety into the fabric of your business, making sure all employees understand its importance and see it as a priority. Sign up to its webinar, Creating a Winning Health and Safety Culture, which takes place on 27 January at 11am GMT, for expert advice on the practical steps you can take to keep your workplace safe as possible.
In this webinar the panel will reflect on the latest HSE statistics to understand why fatalities have increased 28% Y-o-Y, where are the accidents happening, what this means for your business, and how you can get ahead of this by creating a winning health and safety culture.
The Safety Conversation with SHP (previously the Safety and Health Podcast) aims to bring you the latest news, insights and legislation updates in the form of interviews, discussions and panel debates from leading figures within the profession.
Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts, subscribe and join the conversation today!
