Essential things every UK employee should know by now about their safety at work

The workspace looks cosy, tidy, and harmonious, as if everything has been meticulously placed for you to unleash the workaholic within. Yet, perils are lurking in and around all the work environments you may visit, for not even the safest workstation can prevent all the minor but highly impactful injuries or accidents that may naturally happen.

Reputable employers are aware that a main priority never to overlook is the safety and health of employees, staying committed to continuously investing in this area to ensure the organisation’s longevity and prosperity. However, how fine you feel at and after work isn’t solely the obligation of the upper management, as employees have specific duties regarding their safety and health, too.

One of the responsibilities belonging to employees is exactly the acknowledgement of the facts that regard their safety and health at work, such as the right to raise salubriousness concerns or to seek compensation if one’s wrongdoing led to an injury or health issue you should’ve been protected from. So, enough with keeping quiet and sweeping hazards under the rug, for you’re within your rights to speak up when something isn’t going accordingly.

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You’re within your right to raise health and safety concerns

It's common for employees to refrain from pointing out issues or potential threats in the workplace due to concerns that they could impact their job security, career progression, or compensation. However, the fact that speaking up is key to ensuring that fundamental human rights are respected in the workplace cannot be stressed enough. If the situation seems intimidating, it’s safe to say that looking for alternative ways, such as joint improvement suggestions on the specific problem, can get you a long way.

As part of the organisation’s health and safety management, the employer has the legal duty of spotting the threats and keeping the risks under control, resorting to all the helpful solutions to safeguard employees and their environment. Instruction on health and safety practices is essential to ensure that workers are aware of and know the risks and hazards brought about by their duties, so when the context calls for extra training sessions, the supervisor or immediate manager must adapt accordingly. Moreover, the HSE draws attention to the obligation of possessing an accident book to record any mishap when the organisation has more than ten employees.

It would be best if you looked after your safety, too

Ensuring workplace safety isn’t solely up to upper management; it’s part of each employee’s responsibility, too. The first line of protection when it comes to accidents in the workspace is frequently a “heads-up” action from a worker who spots and brings potential threats to light.

Spitting it out when risks and problems arise is essential for maintaining a healthy and safe work environment, ensuring that illnesses and accidents have a considerably lower chance of occurring. This way, the culture of safety that benefits everyone from upper management to the remote, part-time employee is guaranteed, as vociferating issues is the first step to solving them.

It may be challenging to observe, fix, and reduce safety and health risks, which is why many companies focused on their integrity, brand image, and employee well-being choose to leave all this assessment in the hands of specialists who can help them regain control of any situation.

Give heads-ups when they’re needed

If your organisation has established a reporting procedure, you’re more than encouraged to leverage it to emphasise your concerns to the person responsible for taking care of them. However, suppose your employee has yet to implement such a strategy and seems to sleep on the idea, then you should draw attention to this problem the next time you’re around your manager or team leader.

Follow the procedures to have everybody on board, and remember that your immediate supervisor is the first person who must be informed about these daunting aspects. Notifying them about the ongoing issues will also offer them the chance to fix an issue that they may have not even acknowledged or simply postponed solving the case due to the tightness of their schedule.

If you’re interacting face to face, you can invite a colleague to partake in conversation. The greater the number of individuals raising a specific issue, the more significant it appears and the higher the likelihood of it being promptly addressed.

Know what a work-related health and safety concern is

Broadly discussing health and safety concerns at work can be confusing in today’s diverse work landscape. Point to matter, it’s essential to remember that such a worry can take any form, such as a physical hazard like a risky work environment or defective tools. Any practice or condition that endangers employees’ well-being can represent a safety concern, with the list of examples continuing with biological or chemical hazards, bullying or harassment, ergonomic problems, and many others.

As an employee, you’re obligated to follow the organisation’s safety protocols and guidelines, outlining any concerns when they emerge so that the upper management can solve the problem. Staying silent can lead to more damage than one may realise, contributing to rising risks of health issues or accidents, among other hazards. 

Feel free to come up with solutions

More often than not, a difficulty or issue can be solved more quickly when a way out of it is found and the employer receives enough information on the current problem’s state. Suppose you’re conducting daily physical tasks surrounded by your colleagues, and you observe they are overlooking health and safety practices. Then, it’s pretty evident what you can do to reduce the risks resulting from such poor health management practices and contribute to a safer workstation.

A rapid and pertinent solution would be acquiring and learning to use new equipment, running a refresher instruction to raise awareness and diving deeper into the tools’ usage procedures.

Take the matter into your own hands when your health and safety are at play and jeopardized, for you have the support and rights to ensure you’re working in an employee-oriented, protected workstation.

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