'Don't reduce safety'
March 9th 2009 BSIF has recently been stressing to the market that despite the economic downturn, health and safety must remain a high priority. Although the damage to the employees well being, the legal remedies that may subsequently occur and the bad publicity to the organisation are all excellent reasons alone, the financial cost to any business of an accident can be crippling.
Concern has been expressed that some employers are looking to supply cheaper, alternative products to those currently used. This is fine if the risk assessment undertaken shows that the new product is still able to adequately perform its task, and if the business case is sufficiently strong.
Recent examples, however, show where such decision making has actually lead to an undesired effect on the business. In one instance, a change to cheaper, less flexible gloves gave adequate protection, but slowed production. The savings in glove costs was massively outweighed by the loss of manufacturing. Similarly, a company that decided to change to a cheaper Respiratory Protective device found that it needed changing due to clogging far more regularly and the price advantage was completely negated.
It may look like a simple cost saving, but if the safety case says no, then it’s a foolish move. Damaged health is a very high price to pay for saving a few pence.
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