Top 5 health and safety myths revealed

Posted on 21st Oct, 2014 | By Lorretta Tatham

Think health and safety regulations continually put restrictions on your work and create more and more hoops for your business to jump through? Wrong! The purpose of health and safety in the workplace is to protect your workforce, employees and any members of the public you may come into contact with.

By following the proper regulations you’ll continue to protect your company from any legal action that may have result from any damage or incidents that could have otherwise occurred.

There are a number of health and safety myths out there that are unsafe to follow, so we thought we’d debunk some of these myths here for you today on the Browns blog, to ensure your safety in the workplace.

Myth one

You don’t need to secure your load if you’re just driving down the road

Whether you’re travelling a few metres or a few miles the same principle applies, if you’re carrying a load it needs to be secured to your vehicle at all times. If you fail to secure your load, or do so in a poor fashion, you increase the risk of vehicle rollover and spillage. This doesn’t just pose a risk to you; it also can risk the lives of other drivers and road users. More than 1200 people a year are injured as a result of unsafe loads, so don’t be one of them!

Myth two

There’s nothing you can do about slips and trips, they don’t really hurt anyone anyway

Clearing up after yourself and carrying out risk assessments do help to prevent trips and slips – so something can be done about minimising the number of them. Recent figures also show that people are seriously hurt when they are involved in such an incident too. Last year, there were four fatalities and more than 10,000 employees were seriously injured when they had a slip or trip at work. This costs the economy a massive £800 million each year! So clear up and be aware of hazards.

Myth three

People don’t have to take any responsibility for their own health and safety

You can’t rely on your employer to look after all your health and safety needs, you too have a duty to look after yourself. Whilst your employer should follow regulations to keep employees as safe as possible, you also need to be aware of real risks around you. Be aware of circumstance, use your common sense and work with your environment – not against it.

Myth four

Risk assessments must always be long and complex

Yes, we know paperwork can be annoying and take up vital work time but the action of carrying out a risk assessment does protect people. For most businesses this doesn’t take long – all you need is a few bullet points to work by.

Myth five

If you call HSE for help, you’ll end up with an unwanted inspection

Ensuring you do your job in the safest, proper manner is of uttermost importance. If you need advice it’s key that you call the HSE. Their infoline is confidential and run by contractors – so your details are not passed directly to HSE and won’t result in a visit.

For more information about keeping safe in the workplace visit our safety training page.

Do you have any other health and safety myths you’d like to debunk? Tell us in the comments below or tweet us @BrownsLadders

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