Poor Leadership And Accident At Work Compensation Claims
31st October 2013
One of the common factors in the accident at work compensation claims Clearwater Solicitors deal with is poor leadership. Employers that fail to lead their workforce effectively are far more likely to breach their health and safety obligations than those who succeed; positive workplace safety procedures originate at the top of companies rather than at the bottom.
Boards of directors and employers have to look at their own behaviours and the safety guidance they have to adhere to, and must honestly ask themselves if they are reaching the standards expected of them. If they are not, how can they expect their workers to be safe or to reach the standards their employers expect?
Why Employers Should Become Health And Safety Leaders
So why should employers become health and safety leaders? While protecting a business from the consequences of personal injury claims is a great reason to do so, there are a number of other reasons for them to do as well.
– Employers and organisations have duties towards the public and their workforce under existing health and safety legislation. When breaches of these duties occur, a company’s leaders can be held directly liable, with members of an organisation’s board of directors holding both individual and collective responsibility for the health and safety of their workers.
– Failing to consider health and safety as a key business priority can have catastrophic results for individual workers and for the company as a whole, including loss of business and reputational damage.
– Risk management is essential for all businesses and must be led by the company’s leaders. It is imperative that all reasonably practicable steps are taken to protect the health and safety of any workers and the general public.
But while health and safety is the legal duty of company leaders, personal injury solicitors believe it is also their moral duty. Workers should be able to assume their leaders are taking steps to ensure the workplace is safe and that their concerns about health and safety are heeded and managed by an effective leadership team.
Organisations will be unable to achieve the standards of safety they are expected to achieve without directors taking an active involvement in risk management. If an accident at work claim occurs and is publicised, then other key stakeholders might consider the business to be poorly managed and lacking direction.
Businesses that are not dealing with health and safety properly need to come into the 21st century and re-evaluate their positions on workplace safety. Regardless of the size of an organisation, everyone who works for it should be able to expect to have their wellbeing protected so they can come home safe and healthy every day.
While employees have a duty to protect their own health and safety, the buck stops at directors and leaders in accident at work compensation claims. Rather than waiting for the worst-case scenario to occur, employers must take proactive steps to prevent accidents from happening in the first place.