The importance of staying safe at work

The current economic climate means that employment and job security are more important than ever – so staying safe at work is essential for several reasons. Your employer has a legal duty to protect your health and wellbeing, but you also have a role to play. Here are a few reasons why you always try to stay safe at work:

Protect your income

Unfortunately, if you have an accident at work you may have to take time off. This can have a significant impact on your financial stability. Many of us are given sick pay by our employers, however, this is typically only your usual rate of pay for a set amount of time before it is reduced and then stops entirely. With the current cost of living crisis, it is likely that this will not be enough to maintain your current lifestyle. If you are self-employed, getting injured at work can be considerably more detrimental as you may not have any sick pay at all. Therefore, for your financial benefit, it is important to stay as safe as possible at work.

Avoid unnecessary costs for your employer

As well as impacting your own finances, safety incidences at work also heavily affect employers too. As mentioned above, when people become injured from an accident at work and have to take time off, sick pay is often paid by the employer. As well as paying this, employers may have to pay for temporary cover for those off which comes at an additional cost. If they don’t do this, then productivity and output may drop due to fewer people working. Not only this, high numbers of safety incidents in the workplace can lead to bad publicity which can have a very damaging impact on sales. If employers are under all this strain due to safety, they may have to result to making redundancies. Therefore, it is in your best interest to stay safe at work. Employers are of course partially responsible for this and should be providing correct protective clothing and equipment such as safety footwear and PPE if necessary. If you don’t think you have what you need to work safely then you should talk to your employer.

Look after your health and wellbeing

Arguably the most important reason to prioritise safety at work is to take care of your health and wellbeing. For many, time off work can lead to poor mental wellbeing due to physical issues, lack of socialisation and impacted income. In turn, this can cause lots of additional problems. Feeling safe in the workplace is crucial for both reducing workplace anxiety and increasing productivity. Put your mental wellbeing first by focussing on your safety over anything else.

Keep your colleagues safe

When taking risks or acting unsafely at work, it can be easy to forget the impact this may have on others. By putting yourself in harm’s way, you may also be doing the same to your colleagues without intending to. This can in turn cause various issues for them and so it is important to act safely for the sake of everyone, not just yourself.