Outsourcing your health and safety
More and more companies are discovering the benefits of outsourcing their health and safety work to specialists. By law you cannot delegate "responsibility" for health and safety but you can outsource virtually all other aspects to competent, professional people.
Our range of outsourcing services includes:
- Organisation of site’s health and safety, incl. Safety Committee
- Risk assessment
- Health and safety plan
- Contractor management
- Accident investigation
- Safe work instructions
- Safety induction and refresher training
- Personal protective equipment
- Hazardous substances management
- Workplace signalisation
- Occupational health and first aid
- Workplace audit and inspection
Benefits of outsourcing
In many years of practical experience, we have seen organizations benefit in a variety of ways from outsourcing the management of health and safety. Included amongst these are:
- You can reduce headcount and not concern yourself with recruitment, training and absences in an area that is not your specialty.
- Budgeting is more flexible as you transfer costs from fixed to variable. We can work with you to develop a work plan that fits within your financial constraints.
- You can concentrate on your core business activities.
- We work efficiently and provide the level of resource that is appropriate for all circumstances. Consequently, our outsourcing services can be a particularly cost-effective option.
- Engaging professionally qualified consultants reduces the likelihood and impact of a possible conviction under health and safety legislation such, thereby safeguarding the reputation of your business
- Our aim is to form strong relationships with each of our clients that are built on trust and personal commitment at every level. The result is that our clients have increasing confidence in the quality and standard of the services we provide.
Exploring options
You may be considering outsourcing health and safety work, not because you are dissatisfied with your existing arrangements, but because you need to manage costs more effectively in the current economic climate. Depending on circumstances, outsourcing health and safety activities can mean different things to different organizations. For example:
- You may already have an established in-house facility that you wish to transfer (perhaps including existing staff) to a third party consultancy.
- You may wish to contract out all the activities associated with health and safety, but retain your own staff for other roles within your organization.
- You may need to set up a complete management system for health and safety from scratch using external consultants.
We are able to satisfy any of these scenarios or any combination of them.
We appreciate that you are looking for a competent, low-risk and cost-effective solution for your health and safety responsibilities. To achieve this, we typically begin with an assessment of your existing systems in order to understand your organization’s health and safety risk profile. This helps us to propose the most appropriate package of services for your organization. We appreciate that outsourcing for many clients involves a major step of faith. For this reason we emphasize the need to build confidence and relationship from the start.
Implications and challenges
Experience indicates that there are implications and potential challenges to address when considering outsourcing. Whilst you may have considered the issues in general, there are some issues that should be taken into account, for example:
- Under health and safety legislation, the employer always has ultimate responsibility to provide competent health and safety for employees and others who may be affected by your organization’s activities. However, by delegating the management of health and safety to a competent and reputable consultancy, you have effectively discharged your duty.
- It is vital that the contract is clearly defined for delivery of basic services that are essential for managing day-to-day health and safety activities. There should also be a facility within the contract to call in additional resources, over and above those originally envisaged, to supply for unforeseen events and circumstances.
- Outsourcing may result in some loss of “in-house” expertise in regard to the processes and procedures associated with health and safety organization’s activities. It is all the more important, therefore, to select a supplier who is able to demonstrate values that are consistent with your own.
- A third party provider may seek to introduce procedures or practices that are inconsistent with your own culture or preferences. It is important, therefore, that your chosen supplier should be sensitive to the particular requirements of your organization and be able to operate within any constraints that may arise.
We are in a fortunate position to discuss your requirements, to point out potential pitfalls and to help guide you around them.
Managing the transition
Regardless of who undertakes your day-to-day health and safety operations, to be truly effective, there must be commitment and leadership from the top of your organization. The commitment at senior level is never more important than when managing the transition to outsourced arrangements and then for providing ongoing strategic direction. Outsourcing arrangements for health and safety activities can involve significant changes to practices, procedures and accountability. It is highly advisable, therefore, that the whole change process should be fully discussed, negotiated and managed throughout. Good relationship management with open dialogue are needed for a smooth transition and to ensure that misunderstandings are minimized.
Taking the first step
Talking to us doesn't cost anything and could reveal a compelling list of reasons why outsourcing your health and safety, or any part of it, is the right option for you. Call us or email us to arrange an appointment. There is no obligation and you have everything to gain.