Helen Townley, Solicitor at Percy Hughes & Roberts Solicitors, explains how employers can encourage staff to take accident reporting seriously.
Employers across different sectors have a serious problem when it comes to the health and safety of their workers. The issue, as discovered in a recent survey of 650 employees, is that employees are afraid of reporting injuries sustained in the workplace.
The research, carried out by Percy Hughes & Roberts Solicitors, revealed that more than a third of respondents (38%) who had been involved in an accident had decided not to report it to their managers.
The most common reasons given by employees about why they would decide not to disclose their injuries was that they were concerned it would make their employer angry (19%), they didn’t think anything would be done about it (19%) or that they would face repercussions for reporting the accident (8%).
This is a huge problem for employers for a number of reasons. Without knowing about accidents that occur, staff members are at risk as they are expected to continue working when it is potentially difficult for them to do. Additionally, steps can’t be taken to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen to anybody else unless the incident is reported.
More broadly,The fact that employees are scared of repercussions of reporting workplace accidents suggests that they do not know their legal rights as a member of staff.
So what can employers do to earn the trust of their employees and ensure that accidents in the workplace are dealt with appropriately going forwards?
Employers have a legal duty of care to their workers, meaning that it is their responsibility to take the proper steps to deal with any accidents that take place. This means that they must follow health and safety and employment laws, along with the common law duty of care to protect employees. This includes taking steps to prevent accidents from happening in the first place.
There are also a number of steps that employers must take in the event of personal injury and negligence claims. These requirements include:
● Ensuring the work environment is safe
● Ensuring members of staff do not work excessive hours
● Clearly defining job roles for all employees
● Undertaking a detailed risk assessment for all jobs
● Providing adequate training and feedback on performance
● Providing designated areas for rest and relaxation
● Protecting staff from discrimination
● Consulting staff on issues that concern them
Failing to comply with these requirements is a breach of the employer’s duty of care and puts business owners at risk if an incident does occur. These requirements are also a bare minimum for steps that employers could take to ensure the wellbeing of their employees.
If an employer is concerned that their workers wouldn’t come forward in the event of an incident, there are many things they can do to improve staff relations. These steps all centre around improving communication with employees.
Ensure that employees are made aware that they can ask for help if they are unsure of how to complete any tasks, as well as making sure that staff feel comfortable to ask about any difficulties they have and allow them to make suggestions for alternate ways of completing a task that might be easier for the individual.
To do this, employees need to know that they can speak up and be encouraged to do so by their managers.
Business owners can also work to reduce the number of incidents by focusing on making employees aware of the most common types of accidents and the reasons they occur.
The survey revealed that slipping hazards and messy workstations are the most commonly seen hazards in the workplace, with 27% of respondents admitting that they had come into contact with a slipping hazard and 24% had encountered dangerously messy workstations.
By making employees aware of the risks these types of hazards present, what to do when they encounter one and also what to do if an incident occurs, an organisation can create processes that put the danger in the front of workers minds while they go about their work day, helping to reduce the likelihood of an accident and also making sure that employees are confident of the steps to take when reporting a problem.
Taking steps to ensure employees feel comfortable and confident reporting workplace injuries is essential for all types of businesses and clear communication between employers and employees is the best way to implement clear change.