17/11/2023
People could be seen as one of the most important assets in an organization. As human beings we are all entitled to a safe and healthy working environment. Legislation in the form of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (Act 85 of 1993) was written and passed by parliament to address this matter. The main objective of the OHS Act could be described as proactive attempt by government to provide and maintain a safe and healthy work environment to all.
Preventing unnecessary injury, illness and loss makes good management sense any way. All employees have the right to be trained – according to prescription the employer must provide the necessary information, instructions and training to employees.
Section 17 of the OHS Act, Employers who employ 20 or more workers must appoint health and safety representatives.
General Safety Regulations 3(1) and (4). Shops and offices – one first aider for every 100 employees. Other workplaces – one first aider for every 50 employees.
As a training organisation we always encourage our customers to continually develop themselves and their employees.
Training your employees can bring lots of benefits to your business
1. Increase productivity
If your employees know what they’re doing and are properly trained, productivity will increase.
2. Reduce employee turnover
Investing in your employees will let them know you are interested in developing their skills. As a result, they tend to stay longer and contribute more to your business. Recruiting replacement staff is expensive, time consuming and risky. It’s much better to train and retain your best people in the first place.
3. Decrease need for supervision
Untrained and under-qualified staff can drain your management resources and distract your best people from urgent and important tasks.
4. Increase ability to employ new technologies
Keeping up to date with technology is essential. Ensuring that your employees are current with technology will not only enable them to do their job better but also ensures that your Company is at the forefront when it comes to the competition.
5. Increase safety to decrease work-related injury/illness
Training in health and safety will reduce the number of work-based injuries which occur. This protects not only the employee, but also the employer when it comes to possible corporate manslaughter charges.
6. Increase job satisfaction, morale and motivation among employees
A happy workforce is a productive workforce. Training increases the well-being of employees and reduces absenteeism, mistakes and stress in the workplace – always beneficial for a Company.
