Why Health and Safety Matters to HR

In the Happiness Toolkit, which has 21 exercises devoted to achieving happiness, the author explains that when people take steps to achieve happiness in their lives, they are healthier, less stressed, and achieve more. What might come as a surprise is that happiness has just as much impact in the workplace as it does outside. According to a Workstars report, five studies conducted over the last decade showed that employee happiness and business performance go hand in hand.

Why is this important to human resources? And how does health and safety relate? Let’s take a look at the answers and explore why health and safety and HR are natural partners in keeping employees safe, happy, and healthy.

HR: Happiness is the Truth

As someone in HR or as an HR leader, you have a unique position in your company. Your team is often the front line between employees and management. You know all the workings of the business and its procedure and policies. And if you do not personally know all your employees, you are familiar with them and are aware of who and where they are.

Moreover, several critical elements of business management—recruitment, retention, benefits, employee support, task delegation, training and administration—are your responsibility. All things worker related are your responsibility, and as such, one of your major concerns is the wellness of employees. You need to monitor the physical and mental health of your workforce, including happiness. If you strive to have happy employees, you will experience:

• An increase in employee productivity
• Higher employee retention rates
• Greater motivation among employees
  
  

You can’t have happy, productive, loyal, and motivated employees if they don’t feel safe and healthy at work. Because of this, HR plays a role when it comes to the health and safety of employees. In some cases, the health and safety team might be a part of HR.

HR and Health and Safety: Better Together

There’s no question that HR and safety overlap. You work with your health and safety team to mitigate risks to keep the workforce safe. If the only time human resources and safety departments are in sync are when an incident occurs, the results can be:

• A significant increase in absenteeism
• Poor morale
• Low productivity and quality
• Less focus on personal safety in and outside your workplace.

This will take a toll on your workplace—one that can even affect the bottom line.

The good news is that when HR and health and safety work together continuously, the result is a strong culture and greater employee happiness and wellbeing. In these cultures, HR and safety team up in a committee to develop and maintain a safe work environment. They define programs to benefit the mission of HR and of health and safety. For example, collaboration between the two ensures that your safety department develops a program for safety best practices that enhances productivity and that your department offers incentives for performance include safety goals.

Health and safety technology: The glue that binds

For effective collaboration on employee wellness and wellbeing, HR should want to invest in health and safety (HSE) technology. HSE software forms has the ability to form the binding within the organisation to bring everyone together, enabling:

• The identification of competent employees by role, qualification, location, and other qualities
• A complete view of employees, including those at home or in the field, by linking with your HR and external e-learning systems.
• Proactive management of exposure factors such as noise, vibration, solvents or fumes and routine testing like sight, hearing, drug or alcohol.

HSE software makes it easy to record, track, manage, and report on safety, giving every employee the opportunity to readily document health and safety attributes/characteristics/concerns. It allows data to be shared and captured on the go, 24/7, online or offline via tablets and/or mobile devices. Every employee is involved in creating a learning culture, which values health and safety, even when working from home, remotely or on a job or client site. As a result, your organisation can:

• Track and monitor training.
• Establish trust through open communication and feedback loops.
• Ensure safety audits occur regularly.
• Promote employee health, wellness, and happiness.

Want to explore how HSE software can increase your HR happiness quotient?

Let’s book you in for an obligation-free consultation so you can see what Assure health and safety software can do for your organisation.