Why knowing employee responsibilities in health and safety protects everyone in the workplace

In the world of business, employees are a critical part of assisting with delivery of an organisation’s mandate. Simply said, a business cannot function without its employees. Irrespective of what kind of business it is, risks are created that employees, among other, are exposed to, and therefore knowing employee responsibilities in health and safety is likely to assist with managing and protecting everyone in the workplace.

Where health and safety at work is concerned, communication between management or the employee is key to protecting everyone in the workplace.

Who would be considered an employee is not always obvious. In the United Kingdom, under employment law, an employee is “someone who works under an employment contract”. Employees could be working:

• Part-time,
• Be temporary or permanent,
• Doing work experience,
• A home worker,
• A migrant worker,
• Or a mobile worker, to name a few.

There is no international legal definition for the term ‘employee’ and each country across the world has its own definition.

Conversely, an employer is an entity or organisation who manages people and remunerate them for work done. Similarly, each country has a slightly different approach. Employers ensure their organisation is managed by those who include supervisors, managers, team leaders, to name a few.

Generally, all levels of management will be responsible for one or more team member. Team members may be required to fulfil a range of duties and would therefore also be exposed to whatever risks are created by what the organisation has chosen to do.

Perhaps something not always considered is that management are also employees of an organisation, so while they are carrying out the duties of the employer, they also have the same employee responsibilities in health and safety at work.

While key legislation defines what competence is, there is a business proposition to ensure the best person is employed for the job. A mix of knowledge, experience and skills gives anyone employed to manage responsibilities as well as perform their activities at a specific standard to protect everyone in the workplace. We all know those who are quick to say ‘I’ve been doing this for the last 20 years’.

We also know how fast technology and practices change. Competencies are not static. If someone qualified in a particular field 20 years ago those qualifications would not necessarily transfer into competence today. As an example, a business may have a skillset for electricians or plumbers, but that would be different if the work was to be done in a factory versus a domestic environment.

Businesses should consider entry level employees, as well as where there is a change to the health status and where all skills would no longer be able to be used. Change in ability and transfer of skills may impact on competency and further training may be required. Ongoing training of new or changing risks, refresher training, upskilling and development are all important to ensure continued competence.

Communication happens in two directions. In an organisation, often information is sent up the line to management, such as reporting of an incident. However, that employee may never receive feedback regarding what the outcome was, or steps taken to close out a risk or hazard that was identified.

When there is only one-way communication, employees often feel they are wasting their time and stop reporting anything. An often-unrecognised indirect outcome of one-way communication is the sense that management doesn’t really care. Indirect outcomes include poor communication that could lead to lower morale, increased absenteeism, labour turnover and an increase in accidents.

Paying lip service to health and safety, in a sense, could be limiting an employee to comply with their legal duties.

Anyone who is concerned can check employee responsibilities in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, applicable in the United Kingdom. However, in many countries the same philosophy applies.

Besides ensuring structures for competence and communication in general exists, employees are generally a fount of information. Employees often know what does and doesn’t work, what the risks are that they are exposed to and even have knowledge of what needs to be done. The culture of involvement can be a very positive one and also deemed to be better business practice.

A way employees can be positively involved, that could help protect everyone in the workplace, would be to encourage them to act as health and safety representatives. H&S representatives are a further set of boots on the ground, and through health and safety committee involvement with a good understanding of risks, how they are managed and sharing the message with colleagues.

Employees do have rights and responsibilities in the workplace though. Employees have minimal duties in comparison to the employer, however there are three very simple requirements, among other:

• Take reasonable care of themselves and any person who may be affected by what work is done, or what has been omitted to do;
• Co-operate with any legal requirements relating to the job, and
• Not to damage or misuse anything that is legally required.

There are those organisations where what is known as a ‘blame culture’ exists. A blame culture looks to transfer blame onto another party, in this case, the employee, and blame ‘human error’. However, where there is poor communication, the employer would need to prove they complied with comprehensive communication with employees.

Employees have the right to work in a safe environment that is not harmful to their health. Other rights include, among others:

• Stop or refuse to work, when in danger of injury or death, and
• Have reasonable welfare facilities, including rest periods.

Knowing what employee health and safety responsibilities are protects everyone in the workplace. However, it must be a two-way process. The employer needs to facilitate information sharing through identifying risks, training employees and thus gaining the trust of employees. Employees are not just there to get the job done; they need to be kept safe while doing so.