At last people will think about the H!

For over 30 years in industry I've always had a very keen focus on health & safety - there's nothing more important when it comes to employees.

Unfortunately in that time, I've personally dealt with some awful situations from lost limbs through to fatalities - three of them - one of which I had to help remove the employee's body and had to go through counselling as a result. I've dealt with the families who have lost their loved ones, the managers who couldn't cope with the implications, and I've been interrogated as part of a corporate manslaugher case. All of these are experiences I would never wish on anybody.

These safety issues are always focused on within organisations, and rightly so. When many leaders talk about "health & safety", however, they're only really talking about safety. I've always found it incredibly worrying that when there is a health concern people don't really see it as a health & safety issue - despite there being a hint in the title!

There's been a lot more focus over the last few years on mental health awareness and support, which is great. But still a lot of people who talk about mental health don't really see it as a health & safety issue, when it absolutely is! Looking after somebody's mental health is no less important than physical safety issues - all employers have a duty to protect the mental health of employees just as much as they do to provide safety shoes!

The current challenges in industry are immense in terms of Coronavirus, and there are numerous negative implications which will take years, probably decades, to recover from. However, I do believe there will be some real positives coming out of this - and I hope one of these will be a significant increase in the awareness of the "H" in health & safety. There isn't an employer in the country who hasn't thought about the health of their employees in the last few weeks so it's a great example of how important the "H" is.

Whether it's safety risks or health risks we should treat them all with equal importance - just because you can't physically see mental health, a virus or stress doesn't mean you shouldn't give them the same emphasis - in fact you could argue that more effort is required in the areas that you can't physically see with your own eyes. Assess the risks, minimise the risks and look after your employees.

Every time you say the words think about what they say - HEALTH and SAFETY!!!

Pete Colby

Pete Colby is Director at Pragmatism (UK) Ltd who specialise in mediation and employee relations. They can be contacted on 0333 987 5185 and view their website here.