Simply Put – Driving forces for good health and safety

Driving forces for good health and safety

There are many things that might drive companies to provide good health and safety in the workplace. In this article, we look at some of the main Health and Safety driving forces.

By and large, health and safety drivers can be put into three categories:

• Legal
• Financial
• Moral

Legal Driving Forces

Legal drivers for health and safety can include:

• The need to be compliant with the law
• Companies don’t want to be prosecuted
• Directors don’t want to go to jail
• Wish to avoid Enforcement Notices

Financial Driving Forces:

Some financial incentives for good health and safety include that companies want to avoid:

• Loss of commercial reputation
• Loss of production
• Fines
• The cost of accident / incident investigation
• The cost of defending civil actions
• High insurance premiums

Moral Driving Forces:

Whilst there are financial and legal benefits to good health and safety, many of the driving forces behind a wish to provide good practice are moral drivers. These can include:

• Companies and directors don’t want to hurt people
• A desire to do the right thing
• A wish to protect workers
• A desire to contribute to the community, not harm it.

Here, we have listed just some of the many health and safety drivers. But what do you think? What drives your desire to provide good health and safety? Let us know on twitter @safety_matters.