Introduction
Construction companies’ finances, reputations, and workers’ health can suffer if they ignore health and safety regulations. The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 protects workers, although many UK companies fail to comply. When health and safety laws are not followed, penalties, reputational harm, and, most critically, human life are at danger.
What will happen if you don’t follow the rules?
It is against the law to break health and safety rules. Common law says that companies have to make sure their workplaces are safe for their workers. There could be penalties for not doing so, such as fines or jail time.
Fines and penalties
At first, the HSE can only tell a business that is breaking the law that it needs to make changes or be shut down. But over time, the effects can get worse. Fines for breaking the law can go up to £20,000, and problems that put people’s lives in danger can lead to endless fines or jail time. A worker who gets hurt on the job because best practices weren’t followed might also be able to file a claim against the company.
Industry Disqualification and Damage to Reputation
Not following health and safety rules can also hurt a business’s image. Companies that do this are likely to be kicked out of the business, which can ruin their names. Because it is the employer’s legal duty to protect their workers, those at the top are usually the ones who get caught in a health and safety event. In the UK, the HSE has a 94% success rate in getting people convicted.
Putting lives at risk
The worst thing that could happen is that a person could get hurt or even die. Over the past year, 30 people have died in the building industry. These major violations have huge effects on the business involved. A worker died because Sir Robert McAlpine didn’t pay enough attention to health and safety. He was fined £200,000 for this. In some cases, fines that can’t be lowered have hit £800,000. The amount of money fines are worth has also gone up over the last few years. The largest fine given to someone in the building industry was £2.6 million.
Noncompliance is a clear problem in the construction business, as our study shows. It’s hard for business owners to handle health and safety issues in the right way, which hurts not only their employees but also their companies.
How can your company stay in line?
Even though working on a construction site is naturally dangerous, more can be done to follow health and safety rules. Setting health and safety standards and making sure your employees understand them is a good place to begin.
Employers are responsible for making sure the workplace is safe, but everyone is also partly in charge of their own safety. So, best practices for health and safety should be spread in a way that strikes a chord with workers and keeps them interested. Being in charge of this good company culture helps to boost happiness and productivity. This is why communication is so important for a team: workers who are interested and aware are statistically less likely to get hurt on the job.
Know the risks. This is one of the best ways to make sure you follow the rules. Being on a construction site is dangerous, so knowing what your workers could face puts you one step ahead of the danger. Risks like asbestos and electricity can be avoided if you know about them and make sure your team is ready. More than that, employers should make their whole staff more aware of possible risks and encourage them to be more careful.
The HSE says that most of the deaths in building over the last year were caused by falling from a high place. To try to stop anything bad from happening in the future, it makes sense to make sure your business has the right fall safety in place. It can also help to make simple rules like having Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) mandatory across all of your places.
Compliance isn’t just about the work that’s done on-site. Making sure your workers get the right training is very important, and giving them the right tools that work only strengthens your compliance.
Our study, Reducing Risk in Construction, showed that many UK construction companies did not keep proper records of their health and safety issues. Your business can become and stay compliant with health and safety rules by improving everything from attitudes in the workplace to safety steps and paperwork.
Conclusion
Construction enterprises must follow health and safety laws legally and morally. Ignoring these standards can result in large penalties, industry exclusion, and, most importantly, death. Businesses may reduce hazards and create a safer workplace by setting high safety standards, training personnel, and keeping detailed records. Health and safety improves the company’s reputation and operations while protecting workers.
