Colin Yates , chief support officer at data capture solution WorkMobile , reports that not all businesses are complying with health and safety standards and may be putting their staff in danger .

Of course , workers in hazardous industries , such as the construction and installation sector , will often be faced with a high number of risks in their profession – more so than someone who works in an office or shop , for instance . Often , staff in these dangerous industries will be tasked with handling heavy-duty equipment and hazardous materials on a daily basis .

With this in mind , it would be expected that companies within these sectors take health and safety more seriously to help minimise the risk of staff injuring themselves whilst on site .

Why are fatality rates so high within construction ?

Workers should never be put in unnecessary danger , but of course , when tasked with working with hazardous materials and equipment on a day to day basis , they will be exposed to a higher risk of an accident . But , our recent ‘ Work- Safe ’ report found that not all businesses are complying with health and safety standards and may be putting their staff in danger . In fact , the research found that almost two-thirds of employees ( 65 %) haven ’ t

been supplied with an operations manual upon starting their jobs , and for those who have received a manual , only a quarter have seen it updated every time a new piece of equipment or legislative change was introduced . Almost a fifth ( 19 %) said their manuals had been updated once and 13 % admitted it had never been updated .

While the onus is on employers to provide the necessary health and safety guidance to employees , it is also up to workers to ensure they ’ re following the correct procedures . However , almost half ( 48 %) of workers admit to not reading the health and safety materials they were provided with , and as a result , almost a fifth have put themselves at risk of injury by not following the correct practices .

It is clear that more needs to be done by both businesses and employees to help improve health and safety and make for more compliant working conditions .

How can health and safety practices be improved ?

Traditionally , when we think of health and safety compliance , we think of big , thick paper books that detail how employees should operate . Not only are these health and safety manuals daunting and unappealing for employees to read , in today ’ s digital age , they are unnecessary and very expensive .

Most people now have access to a smartphone or tablet , which has made mobile devices one of the most convenient platforms for communication .

By using mobile devices , businesses can transform their paper-based health and safety manuals into digital versions that can be accessed in an instant from anywhere . Digital documents are much more

reliable than paper forms as they can be updated easily should any new regulations come into effect , without any additional time or monetary costs . With paper versions , new copies would have to be printed off every time the manual needed updating , and these could become redundant very quickly should any new regulations come into play .

As digital documents are stored in the cloud , this means they can be accessed anywhere and at any time . Instead of having to hand out employee handbooks to each and every staff member , digital copies can be sent out to workers ’ mobile devices at the click of button via the cloud .

When employees have received their digital employee handbook , bosses

will also have the ability to track who has read the documents – something which can ’ t be tracked when using paper copies . Each employee could be assigned a unique login code or digital signature that can track their progress . For employers , this will help identify staff who haven ’ t read their materials , so appropriate action can be taken to address this .

Ultimately , the enforcement of health and safety policies needs to be a high priority for businesses , especially those that operate within hazardous sectors where the chance of an accident occurring is significantly greater . Technology , such as mobile devices and cloud storage , are just two possible solutions that businesses should be adopting to make working conditions safer for staff . The number of fatal accidents happening in the workplace must be reduced , and employers have a responsibility to keep their staff out of harm ’ s way .

For more information , please visit : http :// www . workmobileforms . com / wpcontent / uploads / 2017 / 05 / WorkSafe-report- . pdf