A successful business is more than just profits and brand success. Company success means safety, health, and happiness for its consumers, investors, and employees. Workplace safety plays a huge role in a business’s success, as safety hazards can harm employees, foster a lousy reputation, and create legal penalties. Poor safety on its own can be the reason a business fails. Safety also is a significant contender when fighting for a competitive advantage in your field. Investors, consumers, and employees will always choose the safer and more efficient brand. How does workplace safety affect a business or brand?
Employee Health and Happiness
The most apparent benefit to workplace safety is your team's safety and good health. While every business or company desires a happy and healthy workforce, it’s rare to put in extra effort to ensure this. Safety is paramount in high-risk industries, such as industrial or construction, with construction workers experiencing 96 of the 345 total fall-related deaths in workplaces. You’ll have a dedicated, productive, and supportive team when your employees are healthy and happy. You may even convince competitor employees to convert to your team! Brand loyalty improves when consumers learn that your employees are safe, healthy, and treated well.
Less Downtime
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When proper safety procedures and protocols are followed, fewer accidents, mishaps, and worker injuries occur. These accidents often cause downtime due to equipment failure, missing workers, or cleanup delays. More downtime means poor productivity, which can translate to frustrated investors, partners, and customers. When a company isn’t as productive, it does not have a competitive edge over its rivals. It also will face increased costs due to delays and employee frustration.
Improved Efficiency
With safer work procedures comes efficiency. Proper safety procedures will significantly reduce the amount of accidents and issues with products or services. An efficient workplace boosts morale, increases productivity, and produces better-quality products or services. It presents a competitive advantage and a recipe for long-lasting brand success.
Better Reputation
Failure to adhere to proper safety protocols can result in employee dissatisfaction, injury, and even death. These issues are tragic and devastating, and they also significantly affect how others view a brand, company, and its leaders. However, when a company cares about its team members, it can develop a shining reputation, placing it at a competitive advantage when other companies perform at the bare minimum or worse.
Lower Overhead Costs
Accidents cost a lot of money! Insurance premiums will rise to cover damage and employee injury, equipment needs to be replaced, spills can cause structural damage, and delays can lose customers or individual orders. Overhead will significantly increase, which can lead to the failure of a business or its finances. Financial concerns can make employees, investors, and consumers nervous, putting your business at a competitive disadvantage.
Customer Loyalty
In this era, sustainability and wellness keep a business afloat. Harmful business practices can be the end for any company. Customers will be more loyal to a brand that prioritizes safety in the workplace for its employees, services, and products. Loyal customers are crucial to brand success and can be the competitive edge you need to rise above the rest. You can even convert leads into customers with a positive brand image.
Hire and Retain Top Talent
It’s doubtful you’ll be able to hire decent talent with an unsafe workplace or a reputation for employee dissatisfaction. If you can hire good talent, you will likely not keep them for long, or you may even bring them physical or mental harm. A safe workplace ensures you can keep the top talent to do the best work for your brand. Good talent brings customer loyalty, brand success, and competitive advantages. However, if you cut corners with safety, no talent will last. You don’t want to end up harming what makes your business flourish!
Fewer Legal Issues
There are a lot of legal hoops to jump through when running any kind of business. Improper safety procedures and workplace accidents make the legal aspect of running a business much harder. You can incur fines, shutdowns, and even jail time for mishandling safety protocols and business compliance laws. Legal issues damage a business’s brand reputation and deter customers from your services.
Conclusion
Safety compliance in the workplace is crucial for various reasons, the most important of which is to ensure employee happiness and safety. However, workplace safety also means fewer overhead costs, better efficiency, customer loyalty, brand success, retaining top talent, and competitive advantage. An advantage over your competition can differentiate your brand’s failure and success. If workplace safety isn’t a priority, it should be. You can harm not just your business but the livelihood of your team. Implement proper safety training and protocols. Lay out an emergency protocol for various circumstances, such as inclement weather, chemical spills, gas leaks, crime, or fires. Hire security teams to keep employees and customers safe, or implement security systems like cameras. Make sure all employees have access to proper safety equipment at all times, including personal protective equipment. Provide various employee benefits such as health insurance, workers’ compensation, wellness packages, and safety equipment. Ensure a positive work-life balance.
