What is IOSH Managing Safely?
- March 21, 2018
- Posted by: Stacie Jansen van Vuren
- Category: Health and Safety
Ensuring the proper health and safety standards within any organisation is extremely important and is becoming a far more regulated and structured activity than ever before.
What is Health and Safety?
In the context of health and safety in the workplace, health refers to the general well-being of each and every individual within the organisation. This enables employees to perform in their roles without the fear of being injured or made ill. It is absolutely vital to understand that health does not only refer to the physical, but must also include a sense of mental and social well-being.
Safety can be considered to be a feeling of security. This means that all individuals within an organisation must be provided with an environment in which they can work without fear of any form of danger or injury. As with the health aspect of health and safety standards, the safety element must include mental and social considerations.
Why is Health and Safety Important in the Workplace?
Health and safety standards are subject to many laws and regulations, and the failure to comply with these results in many organisations being liable to prosecution. The health and safety standards are vital to ensure that, as an organisation, we give you the best experience when providing your services. This is essential to protect the well-being of employees, and also extends to ensure that we give health, safety and environmental considerations to visitors and customers as well.
Workplaces which neglect any aspect of health and safety are at risk of prosecution, may lose valuable employees, are likely to have increased costs and will experience reduced profitability. The failure to adhere to correct health and safety procedures, regulations and expectations will cost money, including:
- Lost wages
- Medical treatment
- Equipment damage
- Legal penalties
- Damaged reputation
- Difficulties in recruiting good staff
- Decreased productivity
- Decreased morale
- Lowered efficiency
- High staff turnover
- Increased absenteeism
- Increased mental health risks
- Employee insurance claims
- Decreased brand value
- Increased business costs
- Disruptions
- Loss of an organisation’s most valuable assets – it’s employees
When discussing the topic of health and safety in the workplace, one name often finds its way into the conversation – IOSH. But what is IOSH Managing Safely?
What is IOSH Managing Safely?
IOSH Managing Safely is an IOSH managing course that was specifically designed by The British Safety Council to provide managers and supervisors with the required knowledge and skills to effectively and efficiently manage the health and safety needs of an organisation.
The British Safety Council prides itself on ensuring that no one is injured or made ill whilst in their working environment; and the dedication to this principle is reflected in the IOSH courses.
The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) focuses on ensuring that global workplace practices are healthy, safe and sustainable. This is a reputation which is taken seriously and can be supported by the fact that IOSH has over 44,000 members spread across 99 countries; making it the largest health and safety membership body in the world.
The IOSH Managing Safely course offers step-by-step guidance on how to correctly manage the health and safety standards of your organisation and how to control the risks that are associated with this area of business.
What Benefits Does the IOSH Managing Safely Course Offer?
Not only does the IOSH Managing Safely course assist managers and supervisors with the practical aspects of health and safety standards, it also ensures that they gain the confidence to keep their organisations safe and helps them to encourage their teams to understand the importance of health, safety and environmental considerations. This also improves the company’s safety culture and ensures that a risk assessment is performed and the necessary precautions are taken to control risks.
IOSH courses are aimed at individuals at all levels, in all sectors, with any level of experience in health and safety standards. The IOSH Working Safely course is designed to cover the basics of health and safety for all individuals within an organisation; whilst the IOSH Managing Safely course is specifically for managers and supervisors to gain the necessary knowledge and skills to keep their teams safe and healthy.
Once the IOSH Managing Safely course and assessments have been successfully completed, the individual will receive a Managing Safely certificate from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), which is recognised as the largest health and safety membership organisation in the world.
Organisational Benefits of IOSH Managing Safely
The organisational benefits that can be gained from the IOSH Managing Safely course are numerous, but typically include the following, amongst others:
- Greater productivity as fewer hours are lost to illness, mental health issues and accidents
- Less lost production as employees are kept safe and healthy
- Increased staff morale and lower staff turnover as employees feel their health and safety needs are being taken care of and are, therefore, more likely to remain with the organisation
- Greater efficiency in the workplace as employee morale directly impacts levels of efficiency
- Lower corporate insurance costs as the organisation meets all the necessary requirements and is seen as less of an insurance risk
- Active staff involvement to improve workplace health and safety
- Improved awareness and appreciation for health and safety procedures
- Enhanced reputation as the organisation is seen as an ethical one which adheres to best practices
- Creating a company culture that promotes the health and safety of employees and increases desirability to work for that specific organisation – thus reducing staff turnover
- Managers and supervisors who have an internationally recognised certification in health and safety standards
- Compliance with the required laws and regulations
- Safe, happy and healthy employees, visitors and customers
Personal Benefits of IOSH Managing Safely
- Ensures the well-being, health and safety of your teams
- Enables you to perform risk assessments and control risks
- Provides an understanding of health and safety responsibilities
- Teaches you how to investigate incidents and prevent them in the future
- Enables you to maintain best practices in terms of health and safety
- Enables you to provide additional service to an organisation
- Provides credibility in both a personal and professional capacity
- Ensures that you have the knowledge and skills required for managing safely
- Improves organisational and personal reputation
- Internationally recognised IOSH Managing Safely certificate
- Increases employability
As is clearly demonstrated here, the benefits of gaining an IOSH Managing Safely certificate are numerous and will significantly improve health and safety standards in any workplace.