WHY SMEs SHOULD INVEST IN HEALTH AND SAFETY

Helen Nkemakolam (Helen is the Principal Consultant of Shan Technologies Limited a Health, Safety and Environment Consultancy Firm) +234(0)805-607-7933 shantechnologies@yahoo.co.uk

Getting hurt at work or becoming ill through work is not a pleasant subject to think about. Within the local context of Nigeria, though there is a dearth of safety statistics, there has been a spate of massive losses resulting from safety-related incidents such as: Personal Workplace Accidents and Fatalities;

Automotive accidents; Disastrous fires (to public and private buildings, factories, markets, homes)

The mistake is to believe that these unfortunate incidents happen in highly unusual or exceptional circumstances that never occur in your workplace. This is not the case. Some basic thinking and acting beforehand could usually have prevented these things from happening. Implementing health and safety measures doesnt have to be expensive, time consuming or complicated. In fact, safer and more efficient working practices can often save money but, more importantly, they can help to save lives. One may not want to admit it, but it may be impossible or extremely difficult to convince any management to set up any structure for safety management, if it does not see the bottomline reason for doing so. In other words, it is a great challenge to get a company to invest in safety (or health & environment) management if the practical, realistic gains for this action are not evident at the onset. However, a good management commitment of resources to any safety-related project or initiative; such as - setting in place a system for preventing and fighting fires, investing in training human capital to work safely, or committing resources to ensure the proactive protection and continual conservation of the natural surrounding environment will surely pay off at the long run. Recognising the need for investing in safety is the most important step that can be taken by any serious management into the safety conscious era. The truth is, good Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) management will certainly save a company TIME, MONEY and RESOURCES, in other words, Naira and kobo. This will improve the efficiency of its operation as a business. For example, investing money in continually equipping staff with good personal protective equipment will definitely result in the prevention of potentially serious injuries or accidents to staff. This leads to cost savings for the company which would otherwise have arisen from medical bills, lost time or down time, workmens compensation, death payouts or fines, all of which could occur as a result of an unfortunate accident event. It also saves the intangible costs which may be incurred in the event of unpleasant accidents such as loss of staff morale, bad publicity, and loss of customers. The argument that safety measures can actually result in tangible cost savings should serve to ease the decision making process for SMEs. Let us consider this scenario;

On April 2nd, 2001, at 11.15am on a dry, sunny morning, a fire broke out in a popular building located in the heart of Central Lagos, Nigeria. An old air-conditioner, which had never been serviced or overhauled, had begun to overheat, completely melting its internal cabling system. A small explosion ensued, igniting other flammable material nearby.

Due to the poor state of maintenance of the buildings electrical cables and electrical appliances and the absence of alarm systems, the fire was able to spread wildly. Also, the lack of knowledge of fires and fire-fighting procedures rendered the building inhabitants unable to control the raging inferno. It took one hour to notify fire-fighting authorities, who arrived, but were unable to control the fire as they had no appropriate fire fighting extinguishers. There were several injuries and casualties, as workers and customers ran agitatedly in an attempt to leave the building. There was one fatality, when a sixty-year old security guard was knocked down while he was rushing down the staircase. Within a few hours, the fire had razed six of the eight floors in the building. Paper piles, office furniture, partitioning, machinery, equipment and personal belongings were all completely lost. The building housed a thriving commercial bank, an insurance company, several business centres, two law firms, a small private telecommunications company and a market research firm. All were heavily affected. (The building owners, the business owners & the workers within the building)
Here are the various costs of this safety-related incident; Personal Compensatio n Remuneration Litigation Output/Time Machines, Property, Resources Process Downtime losses Equipment repair/replacement Relocation Costs Others

Medical Bills Death Payouts Disability Workers Compensatio n Costs Wages and Large payouts Pensions and Lay-offs

Lawyers Legal Costs Union Upheavals Settlements Regulatory Fines and Penalties

Lost Workers Time Process Replacement Costs Clean-up Costs Start-up Costs Incident investigations

Public Relations Activities Loss of Customer Confidence

Going by the above story, developing HSE consciousness may not just be a total waste of money, as is perceived by many SMEs in Nigeria. Having your Health, Safety and Environment Manual (HSE) is the starting point to managing health and safety in the

workplace. It sets out how you manage health and safety in your organization. It is a unique document that shows who does what; and when and how they do it. If you have two or more employees you will need to have a written health and safety policy statement. This would then form part of the general policy of your business on how you deal with health and safety at work and the organizational arrangements for putting that policy into practice. The policy should be specific to your business, and should be clear about arrangements and organization for health and safety at work. It should influence all your activities, including the selection of people, equipment and materials, the way work is done and how you design goods and services. A written statement of the policy and the organizational arrangements for implementing and monitoring it (HSE Manual) shows your staff, and anyone else, that hazards have been identified and risks assessed, eliminated or controlled. Thanks.