2. Importance of the Health and Safety.

 1.1 Why is Health and Safety Important in the Workplace? 

For any organization, the health and safety of employees simply cannot be underestimated. it helps for every area in the organization. Health and safety should be a critical priority for businesses of all sizes. The well-being and safety of employees are vitally important for businesses and can significantly impact all operations. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 38.8 million days were lost in 2019/20 due to work-related ill health and non-fatal injuries. The HSE reported that 1.7 million workers suffered from a work-related illness in 2020/21 – costing the economy an estimated amount of £16.2 billion.

To minimize this kind of incident, there are regulations and acts for health and safety. Health and safety at work act 1974 and the workplace (Health, safety, and welfare) regulation 1992. These are the main acts in the health and safety. According to Sri Lanka, the government always tries to manage the health and safety of employees, based on the Sri Lankan government-approved national policy on healthcare quality and safety. This policy was approved by the Sri Lanka cabinet ministers on 27th May 2015. In Sri Lanka, there are national institutes of occupational health and safety. It's under the Ministry of Labor and trade union relations.

When any organization ignores employee health and safety, these consequences might happen to the organization,

1. High risk of accidents, injuries, and deaths.

2. Decrease the productivity.

3. Loss of the company's reputation.

4. Decreased employee retention.

5. Increase the company's turnover.

6. Legal Repercussions.

Employees also need to understand the importance of employee health and safety. If they have a good knowledge about health and safety, they can avoid the damages. If they haven't these consequences might happen to the employees,

1. Increase the physical injuries and accidents.

2. Decrease the job satisfaction.

3. Increase the medical expenses

4. Losing the wages.

5. Facing the financial issues

6. Increase the health issues.

According to these facts, it seems health and safety are crucially important to every organization and its employees. Below benefits can be achieved when the organization keeps a better health and safety plan,

1. Lower employee absence and turnover rates.

2. Increase the organization's reputation.

3. Lessened threat of legal action.

4. Increase the productivity.

5. Highly job satisfaction.

6. Increase the employee's physical and mental health.

7. Fewer accidents

1.2 References,

Human Focus and Saeed, A. (2024) Why is health and safety important in the workplace, Human  Focus. Available at: https://humanfocus.co.uk/blog/why-is-health-and-safety-important-in-the-workplace/ (Accessed: 08 April 2024).

Cobb, M. (2017a) Adobe Acrobat Chrome Extension: What are the risks?: TechTarget, Security. Available at: https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/answer/Adobe-Acrobat-Chrome-extension-What-are-the-risks (Accessed: 08 April 2024).

Benefits and costs, Benefits and costs: Leading health and safety at work. Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/leadership/benefits.htm (Accessed: 08 April 2024).

The importance of health and safety at work (with tips) | indeed.com UK. Available at: https://uk.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/the-importance-of-health-and-safety (Accessed: 08 April 2024).