All employers are responsible for protecting workers and visitors and ensuring their workplaces have the correct systems and equipment to keep people safe. However, too many accidents still take place in UK workplaces every day.
Poor training provision, lack of leadership, unmaintained equipment, and insufficient procedures all have a detrimental effect on safety. There are many ways to identify and address safety concerns and recent technological developments often greatly assist. However, despite the wide availability many employers still need to be convinced and are sometimes reluctant to adopt new safety technologies.
What hinders investment in assistance technologies?
Lack of buy-in
Unfortunately, there is still a general lack of buy-in to health and safety programmes and solutions. In some organisations, a fear of speaking up about health and safety can often prevent working safely. Promoting a no-blame culture when discussing safety should be encouraged and supported. Everyone should be aware of their own responsibility to ensure everyone operates safely.
When it comes to safety technology, it’s still seen as ‘nice to have’ in some cases. Complacency can be a real problem—if an accident hasn’t happened yet, then it must be okay. This is not the best approach, and waiting until an accident happens is too late. Many businesses fail to look into assistance technologies until after an accident or near-miss incident has occurred. It is important to change this culture to a preventative approach where businesses pre-empt possible hazards and meet them face-on.
Big Brother is watching
Assistance technologies are available to make record-keeping and accident information more readily available. Thorough safety paperwork and accident records make sense as they provide a paper trail that outlines how safety is measured, risk assessed, and incidents investigated.
Unfortunately, this area is often overlooked or treated with suspicion. During a recent panel debate at the IWLEX 2024 conference, Kennedys Law Firm Legal Director Marta Tomlinson noted that some companies are nervous about keeping accident records because they fear they will reflect poorly on the business. She also pointed out that the opposite is actually true, and detailed records often demonstrate a low overall accident rate and a commitment to safe working practices.
ZoneSafe is a valuable tool for collecting detailed safety and accident information through its data analytics feature, which automatically collects real-time data whilst in use. This provides insight into why near misses occur and reveals accident hot spots, which can help employers review and improve site layouts. Providing powerful safety and accident information can be used to create highly targeted training programs that address known behaviours and hazards that contribute to safety incidents. If an accident occurs, the collected data can provide a more detailed look into the root cause, critical to future accident prevention efforts.
Workplace pressure
Workplace pressure comes in many forms, commercial and operational. Financial pressure and a focus on revenue and profit means funds are diverted from additional investments that are seen as non-essential.
Operationally, when focused entirely on getting the job done within the deadline, cost or to a required standard, broader situational awareness is easily lost, increasing the risk of safety incidents. ZoneSafe promotes situational awareness by grabbing attention at a crucial moment. The proximity warning system creates a detection zone around the vehicle, which, when breached, triggers an alarm to drivers and pedestrians, significantly reducing the chance of collision.
Cost vs Consequence
Management can often overlook the cost vs. consequence scenario and focus on the price over the probability of an accident. When arguing for investment in safety technology, instead of just focusing on the initial outlay, it’s important to consider the cost if the investment isn’t made.
Following a serious accident, the costs can escalate into millions of pounds. Earlier this year, a recycling company was fined £3 million following the death of one worker and the serious injury of another. The HSE investigation found significant failures in planning, risk assessment and supervision. Another recycling company was fined £1.2 million when a worker was struck by a moving vehicle – the investigation revealed insufficient risk assessment and organisation of vehicles and pedestrians [1].
It may be surprising that a relatively small upfront investment of £10-20K could equip your business with a site-wide safety solution that efficiently reduces the chance of accidents, saves lives, and protects the company in the long term. This investment provides a system guaranteed for ten years, and ZoneSafe experts provide training, system trials, and employee onboarding to support adoption.
It’s important to note that serious accidents are rarely the result of just one event and are usually the result of a series of failings. Addressing just one hazard in the chain can stop accidents and be the difference between life and death.
To discuss your workplace safety concerns, contact ZoneSafe
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[1] https://press.hse.gov.uk/tag/prosecution/
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