Benjamin Franklin famously advised fire-threatened Philadelphians in 1736 that “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Clearly, preventing fires is better than fighting them. This is as true today within all workplaces, as when Franklin made the quote. The research is telling us about the benefits of safe and healthy workplaces, however, making the case for investment in workplace safety and health prevention isn’t always that simple, yet it should be.
The benefits
We know they exist, and there’s research out there to prove it.
An analytical study from the US examined how to improve safety and health management in the construction industry. An online survey was conducted in 2015 with 254 general contractors, specialty contractors, design-build firms, construction managers and engineering firms and the results were compared with a previous study in 2012.
When asked about the impact of the safety practices they had implemented on the project and/or business success, not only did they see an improvement in
- willingness of jobsite workers to report unsafe conditions
- ability to contract new work
- staff retention
- ability to attract new staff
they also saw an increase in the positive impact on
- project budget
- project schedule
- project ROI
- reportable injuries
These results make it clear that there are many positive impacts from implementing safe work practices.
It’s the same for mental health, the analysis from PWC and beyond blue in Creating a mentally healthy workplace, shows that an investment into mental health in the workplace gives rise to a number of benefits to organisations, people with mental health conditions, co-workers, and clients.
Through the successful implementation of an effective action to create a mentally health workplace, organisations on average, can expect a positive return on investment of 2.3. For every dollar spent, there is on average $2.30 in benefits to be gained by the organisation.
Current status
Within the construction industry study, it was evident that large companies are likely to be further along the safety culture spectrum than smaller companies. This may suggest the need for more outreach to smaller companies to help provide the information and resources needed to encourage growth of a safety culture within their organisation.
The PWC report results found that implementing multiple targeted actions is likely to lead to further increase in ROI.
So what does this mean?
A new approach is needed
Safety and mental health training needs to be affordable and easily accessible for all sized organisations. It needs to be flexible, where organisations can pay for what they use, when they use it.
Moving to a campaign driven safety and mental health training delivery module is one way to target those who need it most, and save time and money. Using this method creates a more focused approach, while at the same time reducing delivery costs. However, there aren’t too many online platforms that can accommodate this. A number of training providers still require annual licenses, per head fees determined by staff numbers or tiered fee models. It’s time for more flexibility.
What if you could access quality training content, that was interactive and immersive, when you needed it and for the number of users that needed it, at any given point in time?
What if you were not bound by annual subscription user licenses, had no lock in contract, but could still access your employee’s training results at any time?
How great would it be if you could simply pay for what you use?
Well now you can!
Tap Into Safety have listened to the feedback from existing clients and health and safety leaders and introduced a new and innovative, per use ‘credit’ module.
We offer all our training modules on the Tap Into Safety training platform with no lock in contract, annual license or subscription fees. You simply pay for what you use.
The introduction of our flexible credit model means that businesses can purchase as many credits as they need (minimum 20 credits). Each time a training module is completed, this uses one credit.
A per use credit model, allows companies to dip in and out of the platform as they need to. Companies can assign project-based training as well as train their contractors before they visit their sites. It’s great for induction training of new employees and as ongoing refresher training throughout the year. This model helps business to top up their safety induction training to remove ‘death by Power Point’ delivery and move to interactive, industry specific and immersive training that is more cost effective than traditional training delivery platforms. Once registered, a business becomes a Tap Into Safety client and become a life-time member of the Platform. Even if clients don’t have active credits, they will still be able to access data and results. Data will always be secure and available.
What do you get?
At a glance here is how Tap Into Safety can help.
- Our cloud-based interactive training modules can be completed in under 15 minutes and are available online and via smart devices.
- You don’t need to download any specific software or buy any new hardware.
- There are no set up fees or lock in contracts.
- You pay for what you use.
- Each completion of a training module uses one credit.
- You can purchase any number of credits at any time (minimum 20 credits) that you can use within a 12-month period before they expire.
- On average, a staff member uses three credits a year.
- There are 18 prebuilt workplace safety training modules that you can access immediately. These include topics such as
- Falls from heights
- Scaffolding
- Warehouse
- Traffic control
- Dispatch yard
- Minor capital works
- Custom built content is available and will sit on the Platform for immediate use and remains on your account for life.
- We offer both our workplace safety and mental health training on one platform.
- There are 10 prebuilt workplace mental health training modules that you can access immediately. These include topics such as
- Workplace bullying
- Sexual harassment
- Grief and loss
- Alcohol and depression
- Content is developed in consultation with industry experts.
- Employees can confidentially seek help if required.
- Immediate compliance reports are at your fingertips as a life time client, and are not dependent on continued usage.
- Use the comprehensive reporting tools to predict trends and analyse data.
- You don’t have to make any changes to your induction training if you don’t wish to, just add our training modules to it by simply inserting a hyperlink.
- Integration is simple, via URL, account creation and API’s to link results back to your current LMS and systems.
Businesses should be making the commitment to create and maintain safe and mentally healthy workplaces to minimise the risk and lessen the impact on the employee and their bottom line if a workplace injury or illness occurs. The research is clear, investing in safety and training will not only save you money, it can result in a positive financial return.
Further information
Want to know more? Sign up for a software demonstration today or contact us with any questions.