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OHS not ‘optional’ during a recession, says lawyer

14 April 2009

OHS must penetrate all aspects of a business’s operations, even during a recession, the Safety in Action conference heard earlier this month.
Douglas Workplace & Litigation Lawyers Director, Andrew Douglas, who presented a paper titled Making OH&S Core Business, told the audience that OHS should not be seen as discretionary expenditure during a recession.
‘The greatest risk to OHS is that it is seen as a bolt-on rather than an integral part of the operational side of the business,’ he said.

Keeping workers on side

Douglas said that that cost-cutting could be perceived by workers as management’s disengagement from the concerns and issues of its workforce, and that strong OHS would make employees feel safe both in their continuity of employment and in their workplace.
‘The parallels for safety are a no-brainer — invest in your workers’ safety and systems for safety, and your people will help you turn the tide,’ he said.
Further, Douglas said that it was ‘faulty thinking’ to believe that workers would be more productive working under the threat of redundancy.
‘People don’t work because people think they are going to lose their job if they don’t. The only way to get people across the line with work views is if they believe in the brand, and the best vehicle for that is safety,’ he said.

Making OHS core business

Douglas said that OHS was a vital component in the operational chain of command, and that maintaining OHS during ‘difficult times’ would help align workers with the common vision of a business.
OHS, he said, must penetrate all aspects of a business’s operations ‘from the purchase of capital to the development of production processes’.
He said that OHS ‘driven from the floor of the workplace, owned by the floor of the workplace, and understood by the floor of the workplace’ would produce high productivity, better quality and fewer serious injuries.
It is dangerous, he said, for businesses not to invest in safety and the employees who are carrying out the safety at the ground floor level. Further, he said that operational managers must cooperate with OHS managers.

Stabilising injury and productivity costs

Douglas said maintaining safety standards during a recession would help stabilise costs arising from injury and lost productivity.
‘[Safety] increases productivity because the people who don’t get injured stay at work with the skills to do the work,’ he said.
Douglas warned that cutting OHS expenditure could increase:
  • lost-time injuries and the compensation premiums arising from these injuries;
  • costs associated with finding casual replacements for injured workers;
  • losses in productivity associated with employing these unskilled casuals; and
  • the costs associated with a casual replacement sustaining injury due to their lack of skill, appropriate induction, and training.
Douglas said that the best vehicle for combating the recession is safety, and that this was also the best economic vehicle for a business.
‘What better vehicle to communicate a business’s commitment to its own success than honouring safety? What better expression can you give to a workplace than to say “I will make it safe”?’ he said.
More information: Safety in Action conference

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