Why Managing Health and Safety at Workplace is necessary?

Why Manage Health and Safety at the workplace? OR
What are the reasons behind managing Health and Safety at the workplace? 

The question is asked in many ways and a lot of students get confused about how to respond. The answer is the same for all such questions that ask the reasons behind managing health and safety. Managing Health and Safety in the workplace is beneficial but three factors require every employer to manage health and safety at the workplace. The 3 major reasons are mentioned below;

1. Moral Reason
2. Legal or Social Reason
3. Economical Reason

Moral Reason

It is not acceptable that the worker is under threat during working for an employer. He doesn't expect to risk his limb, life, or physical ability as a condition of the agreement. Society will never accept that their beloved one loses his life when working for an employer just because he was provided with defective or irrelevant equipment to perform the duty and that too in an unsafe environment without guidance. 

Society expects every employer to demonstrate a correct attitude towards the health and safety of workers at work. There is a need to maintain a moral code in society to ensure the employer is taking good care of his worker during work and the worker is safe. Morally an employer is liable to provide a worker with;

1. Safe Workplace
2. Safe Equipment
3. Safe Working Environment 
4. Training, Guidance, and Information
5. Supervision and Monitoring 

It is believed that Moral reason that is based on the concept of Duty of Care is the prime motivator behind the safety and security of workers at work. Statistics of accidents and incidents show that the effective management of Health and Safety at Work is necessary. Not only this but it is also shown by these statistics that those who are working with small organizations are at more risk than those who are working for big organizations.

The reason behind this is that Small Organizations don't have big resources to manage Health and Safety at the workplace. If they start doing it their budget will increase. They have to incorporate a lot of new systems and employees to manage it effectively. They believe their operations will stop if they do so because HSE at work will stop unsafe operations. 

On the other hand, Big Organizations have a huge amount of finance and they can manage it easily. They can introduce technology and modern reforms to ensure their workers are safe at the workplace. Secondly, they care about their public image. If something happens wrong to any employee at work, their public image will be damaged, and to protect this image they invest heavily in managing health and safety at work. 

Legal/Social Reason

It is ideal for an organization to self-regulate or self-police themselves to ensure effective health and safety at work are being managed and appropriate standards are safety are enforced against their work activities. It has a lot of benefits for them and two benefits are listed below;

1. The business is in a good position, no loss is being experienced and workers are safe
2. No need to have a separate Regulator that will generate cost

Unfortunately, it is not possible so far neither organizations are sufficiently motivated and enlightened to do so, that's why governments play an important role and legislation is done to ensure employer takes reasonable steps to keep the workers safe at work. Many moral duties have changed to Health and Safety Laws and the government is playing an important in enforcing these laws at all levels. For example, ILO Convention C-155 is about Health and Safety Management at work. In Article 16, the responsibilities of the employer are identified. 

According to Article 16 of Convention 155, the prime legal duties of an employer are;

The employer is liable to ensure the equipment, tool, machinery under their control are safe and pose no risk to the health and safety of workers.

The employer is liable to ensure the chemicals, biological and physical substances under their control are without risk to health and pose no threat when protective measures are taken.

The employer is liable to provide Protective Equipment, Adequate Clothing, to prevent the risk of accident or adverse effect on health. 

There are 3 strong legal reasons for an employer to manage Health and Safety at Work, listed below;

1. Preventive - the government can issue an enforcement notice to make improvement 
2. Punitive - when damage has been done and courts can impose fines and punish responsible one.
3. Compensatory - where employees are able to sue in the civil courts for compensation 

ILO: International Labour Organization
OSHC: Occupational Safety & Health Convention held in 981

Economic Reason

Accidents and ill health due to work costs. These costs are divided into 2 major costs which are further of two types. 

Type 1: Direct Cost & Indirect Cost 

Type 2: Insured Cost & Uninsured Cost

Direct Cost	Indirect Cost
Direct Costs are the calculable Costs arising directly from the accident. For example; Sick Pay Repairs to damaged equipment Fines Legal fees	Indirect Costs are consequential but don’t generally involve the actual payment of money. Indirect Cost is always difficult to calculate and often substantially more than direct cost. For example;  Lost orders Business Interruption Loss of reputation

To cover up these losses in case of any incident, the employer is required to have certain types of insurances against accidents, ill-health, or other problems such as;

1. Employer's Liability Insurance
2. Public Liability Insurance 
3. Motor Vehicle Insurance

The above-mentioned schemes will cover up the losses arising in form of damage to the vehicle or equipment and the compensatory claim made by the employee. Now it is the responsibility of the Insurance company to decide the premium that it wishes to charge. 

It should be remembered that the fines can't be insured because it is illegal and immoral for that the defendant to take benefit of the crime committed. The insurance companies not only insure the equipment or tool but also help in correcting the system. They can help in identifying the hazards pertaining to work activities, suggest control measures and action needed to mitigate them. 

The bottom line is that there are clear financial benefits to be gained from effective health and safety management. Employers with effective Health and Safety Management in place are likely to save a substantial amount of costs of accidents. 

Hierarchy of Reasons Behind Managing Health and Safety at Work