As a business owner or operator, how do you prioritise the risks in your business?
Do you put more emphasis on ensuring the financial risks are well managed or that the day to day operations run without a hitch? Do you ensure that the PAYE and GST are accurate and paid on time so the IRD is not breathing down your neck or is it more important that your fleet of vehicles are maintained to a high level so there are no breakdowns, no delays and no additional cost?

Within a workplace there are many risks that can make or break a business that need to be considered and managed, and your health and safety risks are no different. The risks of having staff members injured and off work or vehicles out of operation can be considerable. If there was drugs or alcohol involved in an accident or it was found there were maintenance issues which contributed to the accident all have consequences which clearly carry over to other areas of business operations. These could have financial costs, HR disputes, reputational damage, lost production to name a few. If Worksafe have grounds to prosecute, the penalties can be significant and need to be considered seriously.

Like many other day to day risks businesses deal with, health and safety should be no different, make it part of your overall risk management framework so it simply becomes a part of everyday business. There are many simple things businesses can do to minimise their exposure to health and safety risks that will help other aspects of the business and ultimately increase your bottom line.

In our experience, when health and safety is treated as an integrated part of the business environment, there are many positive benefits to the business other than just ensuring your people go home safely and are fit to front for work the next day.

Contact Safe Business Solutions (SBS) on 0508 424723 or email info@safebusiness.co.nz to find out more about Health & Safety risk management in your workplace.