The Best HR Strategies to Promote Employee Health and Safety

As with other areas within a company, the HR department often plays a bigger part when it comes to health and safety at work. Indeed, HR’s role in implementing procedures that ensure H&S is likely the most important.

The HR department is responsible for both the physical and mental health of all employees. This often starts by making sure all employees are familiar with the company policies and feel comfortable to come to HR whenever necessary.

The policies that are put into place are mostly common-sense measures. Most HR departments assign a safety representative who is there to make sure the policies are followed. This is also the person each employee goes to when policies aren’t being followed correctly.

Develop safety policies

When it comes to health and safety law, there is no such thing as being too informed. The HR department, with help from the government, can easily establish policies to keep all employees and customers safe. Even if these professionals aren’t sure how to get started, government bodies can provide the resources to get started.

Once safety policies have been established, the lines of communication have to remain open. The HR department has a legal duty to make sure all employees have access to company safety policies. Although it’s the employee’s responsibility to take care of their own health, it’s the company’s duty to make sure the work environment is as safe as possible, and it all starts with HR.

Prioritize employee wellbeing 

Most importantly, when it comes to employee health and safety, employee wellbeing should be the number-one priority at all times. After all, keeping employees safe and happy is crucial for both economic and moral reasons, and is a must if you want to gain employee trust. If your HR department provides free classes and communicates with employees regularly, this goes a long way in making employees realise how important they are.

Frequent emails, information sessions, and written tips and reminders also help. All of these things show employees that the company takes their wellbeing seriously, which allows them to feel like part of something bigger. The health and safety executive can ensure these practices are enacted and continue to be a part of the company’s overall policies.

Reduce employee stress

There are many ways to reduce employee stress. This stress, whether physical or emotional, can cause accidents and injury because people are less focused when stressed. Stress, therefore, can directly affect the health, safety, and welfare of each and every employee, and it takes some effort to make sure those stress levels are reduced.

To reduce employee stress, you can implement little things that make a big difference. From free stress-reduction classes to literature with practical tips on reducing stress, HR can show employees ways to become less stressed over time. You can also help by identifying actual risks to their health and safety so they’re more aware of what might cause them stress in the future.

Incorporate regular health and safety training

As with any safety measures, consistency is key if you want your policies to be effective. Regular communication and regular classes help, as do consistent reminder emails and other practical actions. In addition, you should coordinate with facility management so that the suggestions made in this training can come to fruition. 

Indeed, when HR works with other departments and shares health and safety duties, things happen a lot quicker. But all of this starts with regular training so that employees are consistently reminded that everyone has a duty to keep everyone else safe.