Management plays a crucial role in maintaining compliance with health and safety regulations and standards in the workplace. It is the responsibility of management to set the tone for a culture of safety and to ensure that all employees understand and follow safety protocols. If there is suitable compliance across the workplace, then it’s more likely the risk of accidents and injuries will be massively reduced.
There are several ways that management can support compliance in the workplace:
Set clear expectations
Management should clearly communicate the importance of compliance and the expectations for employee behavior. For example, when employees join the company they could have an onboarding session showing the health and safety protocol. Following this, building a strategy day for employees where health and safety can be reviewed, will help maintain clear expectations on health and safety.
Provide training and resources
Management should ensure that employees have the necessary training and resources to understand and follow safety protocols. This could include safety manuals, training materials, and access to safety equipment. If resources are given throughout the workplace, then it’s more likely the team will be able to respond effectively to any health and safety needs.
Lead by example
Management should model safe behavior and actively encourage employees to follow safety protocols. For example, if a team member is working in the building industry, having the management wear all the appropriate safety uniforms (e.g. helmet and high visibility vest) will encourage other members to do the same.
Monitor and enforce compliance
Management should regularly check that employees are following safety protocols and take corrective action if necessary. Going back to the dress code, managers should go around and ensure any viable dress wear is being worn correctly, especially if there is a risk of injury in the employee’s task. Or, the management could ensure all employees take a health and safety onboarding session.
Invest in safety
Management should prioritize safety in decision-making and allocate resources to support compliance efforts. By taking an active role in promoting compliance, management can help to create a safer work environment and prevent accidents and injuries. If more employees are seeing safety equipment around the workplace, then they are more likely to wear the equipment.
Overall, it’s clear that management has a significant impact on maintaining health and safety compliance, and if managers focus on this as a priority then the chances of health and safety risks are greatly reduced.
