The Reasons for Effective Management of H&S

Question 1

Three Fundamental reasons to manage H&S

Answer 1

Moral, Legal & Financial

Question 2

Why are moral reasons important in the overall management of H&S?

Answer 2

Employers may be tempted to treat the Health and Safety of Employees as being of less importance than financial profit.
Employer owes a duty of care to employees.
People do not expect to risk physical or mental health as a condition of employment.
Society expects employers to adopt a correct attitude to H&S at work.
It is unacceptable to place Employees in situations where their H&S is at risk.
National statistics relating to accidents reinforce the message that H&S should be effectively managed.
Employees in smaller businesses are at more risk than people in larger businesses.
Duty of care also applies to Contractors and Members of the Public.

Question 3

Why are legal reasons important in the overall management of Health and Safety?

Answer 3

Duty of Care under common law
HSWA and Regs reinforcing duty of care
Preventive - Enforcement Notices (Improvement and Prohibition)
Punitive - Criminal courts imposing fines and prison for breaches of law
Compensatory - Employees are able to sue in the civil courts

Question 4

Why are Economic reasons important in the overall management of Health and Safety?

Answer 4

Accidents cost money - Direct and Indirect
Direct costs are able to be calculated i.e. sick pay, repairs, legal fees and fines
Indirect costs involve lost orders, business interruption, turnover, lost customers
Employers are required to have three types of insurance against accidents which will cover some costs such as compensation and damage.
Fines from criminal prosecutions cannot be insured against
The HSE carried out a study on the Cost of Accidents at Work and found that for every £1 that employers spend on insurance, the uninsured costs of accidents over a year amount to between eight and 36 times that amount.
NHS is funded by the taxpayer - overall reduction in income of injured people means less tax paid and the burden on the NHS to deal with injured people.