The impact of personal protective equipment in your business
Neil Tappin
I am a business owner and a Mental health first aider and advocate, with over 30 years of lived experience of Mental wellbeing issues ,creating and supporting people locally through @menfulness and the wider community.
We all know that employers have a responsibility to keep staff safe in the workplace. From clear signage to the provision of good quality PPE; fulfilling your health and safety obligations is a crucial element of running a successful business. Working closely with our suppliers at PortWest Ltd, we provide a wide range of personal protection equipment. So whether you’re looking for advice on the most suitable hi-vis clothing or a bulk order of industrial safety helmets with visor and chin strap; NGT Products can help you stay up to date and fully compliant with British and EU safety standards.
Employers have a legal responsibility to supply personal protection equipment (PPE), but what other reasons are there for investing in suitable workplace protection?
PPE can avoid and reduce injury and sickness
According to a recent report from The Health and Safety Executive, around 621,000 workers reported sustaining a non-fatal injury at work in 2015/16. 200,000 of these led to three or more days off work. Along with other health and safety measures, proper use of PPE can reduce the effect of an injury or even prevent an accident from happening altogether. Injured and absent staff mean that you either accept lower productivity levels, or find and train temporary manpower. And we haven’t even mentioned time spent completing the correct paperwork and RIDDOR reporting yet.
Good quality PPE improves staff morale
Employee satisfaction is related directly to how safe they feel on the job, according to a 2015 report by Dr Robert McLellan. Well run safety programmes, provision of PPE and good communication channels around safety concerns all improved staff dedication and morale – leading to a happier and more productive workplace.
Save time, money and your reputation
While PPE does require an upfront investment, not investing may cost you even more. Reduced productivity and high accident rates will have a direct impact on how people perceive your brand. Sudden absence can affect your ability to complete a project on time and within budget, reducing profits and damaging customer loyalty. Add to that the results of an investigation and potential prosecution, suddenly the initial cost of investing in PPE doesn’t seem quite so high any more.
If you are interested in learning more about health and safety regulations in the workplace you can find lots of great information on the Health and Safety Executive website.
For more information on Personal Protection Equipment or the comprehensive range of additional workplace products and services supplied by NGT Products please contact us.