Health and Safety policies are often very cut and dry.
They lay out the ways to keep a workforce safe from harm in a practical way.
Often, they include things like processes for doing things in the safest way, handling hazardous substances, operating heavy machinery and fall protection.
But, they don't often include the less tangible aspects of safety. Like protecting the safety of your worker's wellbeing.
Worksafe CEO Phil Parkes wants to address this in 2021. His priority is creating a focus shift when it comes to health and safety practices. Rather than looking at the exact actions happening on a particular worksite, the focus should be on ingraining safety into everything a company does.
He believes it is about changing the mindset of directors and workers alike.
Let's look into this concept in a little more detail now and how you can look to improve the overall health and safety of your team.
Are Productivity And Wellbeing Health & Safety?
Interpreting Legalities
The question of whether productivity and wellbeing are part of Health and Safety came to light during the recent Whakaari/White Island court proceedings.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 states that Directors, referred to as “officers” should ensure that their workers are protected as far as “reasonably practicable”. That makes complete sense, but what does it actually mean?
In the case of Wharaaki/White Island, 13 organisations faced prosecution over not keeping their workers safe. Where the confusion comes in with this particular case, and others of its kind, is that the duties the various organisations have under the Act overlap. So, no one was really sure how each of the individual cases would be judged.
Parkes comments that the Act is “deliberately not prescriptive” on what “due diligence” and “reasonably practical” should look like. Rather, the focus of the Act is for directors to do everything possible to keep their team safe based on the unique factors that are experienced in their individual industries.
They also need to be considerate of where their duty of safety might overlap with another company’s duty of safety and plan accordingly. Basically, Parkes wants Directors to ensure their people are looked after, regardless of the circumstances.
Viewing Health and Safety Holistically
Having Health and Safety policies in place is a great start. But, if there is a disconnect between what the policy states and what is happening on the ground in practice, then Directors need to address the gap between intention and reality.
In order to fix this, Parke believes that it “requires a shift from thinking about health and safety as a compliance issue - and rigidly defining obligations as boxes to be ticked off - to applying a health and safety lens to all business activity.” [source]
In a practical sense, it means that Directors need to reconsider how they plan work as a whole, rather than looking at what is happening on individual worksites.
Parke notes that New Zealand businesses often view Health and Safety as something separate to everyday work. Separate and specific conversations are had about Health and Safety. But Parke would rather safety be considered holistically.
“Health and safety should be integral to every work conversation. This means thinking about it when we develop strategy, when we do business planning and when we develop new business models.” [source]
To do all of this, it will require leaders to have a shift in mindset.
Changing Company Mindset
Parke believes that Directors need to stop thinking about Health and Safety as an obligation that should be ticked off. Instead, he wants them to see it as “an opportunity to create positive cultural change and improve business operations.” [source]
This shift in mindset will help companies to see safety as a value proposition. This then trickles into all areas of business and encourages all kinds of safety. It extends things beyond the tick box mentality of ensuring obligations are met. It allows things such as wellbeing to be a focus also.
As much as “80% of the total burden of harm for New Zealanders is in occupational health - and that 17% is in mental health impact.” [source] Because of this, WorkSafe are evolving their priorities and capabilities when it comes to wellbeing issues and they would like to see individual companies do the same.
So, in response to our initial question of whether productivity and wellbeing are part of health and safety, the answer is a resounding YES! Mental wellbeing cannot be separated from physical. If someone does not feel safe or supported, then of course that is going to impact their work and behaviour.
However, if all aspects of safety and wellbeing are positively addressed, productivity and company culture will improve. A win for everyone!
Part of viewing Health and Safety holistically is making sure you have the right safety solutions for the needs of your company. And there is certainly NOT a one size fits all solution when it comes to safety.
But at Direct Safety, we recognise that. Our safety solutions are customisable and designed specifically for your organisation. Call us today to find out how we can help you keep your team safe.
The ideas in this article were first raised in a piece published by the Institute of Directors. You can read the piece in its entirety here.