Top 5 Reasons to Hire Health and Safety Consultants
Having health and safety experts present on-site at key times can be critical for a construction company to limit liability and keep workers safe. Some companies choose to hire outside health and safety consultants – but if you can manage a team you trust, why would you choose to hire out for these services? Isn’t it better to have them on-staff?
Here are 5 reasons to hire health and safety experts
01 / Prevent compliance issues before they can arise
Health and safety consultants ensure that your crews can go home each night with peace of mind that they’re coming back to the safest job site possible – but that’s not all they can offer.
An expert health and safety team can look at the plans for a job and the proposed site, and instantly see areas that have to be addressed in order to mitigate liability and compliance risk. During site inspections, you can trust them not to miss important details that increase the potential for risk because they’re skilled contractors vetted by dedicated industry experts who manage their training and performance.
02 / stay flexible as your business grows
The dependable help that a contracted safety team provides can be your key to success in an industry that demands flexible adaptation to everything the jobs throw at you.
For example, as your company grows and invests in more and different equipment, you’ll start to handle more (and different types) of projects. These new demands require you to scale up to meet them – if that process involves finding new, reliable additions to your inside health and safety team, it will likely take longer and make you less agile, limiting your growth potential.
With outside help, you can expand and contract your team of health and safety consultants, adjusting to changes in needs or budget. Some companies choose to employ full-time consultants and complement them with outside experts to ensure continuity through every job.
03 / Avoid investing in training and re-training
As new methods, technology, and regulations enter the different arenas of construction, the industry changes and evolves. If your internal team doesn’t have the time or the awareness (or access to training resources that cover these evolutions), they could leave you underprepared for the challenges of tomorrow.
Contracted health and safety consultants, on the other hand, work for companies that specialize in keeping up with the latest developments in construction technology and safety regulations, ensuring that they will never be left behind.
And if you do com]bine inside consultants with outside help, the team on your payroll will develop mew competencies from the advice and access to training resources that outside consultants bring to the table.
04 / Keep Your Teams Safer
There are two ways that health and safety contractors limit accidental on-site injuries, keeping your workers safe and your company free from liability.
One, they mitigate any risks at the site with thorough inspections and modifications. Loose screw on the scaffolding? They’ll catch it during the inspection. Fall hazard? They’ll make sure harnesses and safety equipment are available and in use at all times.
Two, they can help your teams do things in the safest way possible. Outside consultants can also support and extend the training your crews get access to, instructing them on the best ways to handle potentially dangerous on-the-job activities.
05 / Empower Cost-Effective Operation
You may have noticed a trend in all these points about benefits of hiring experienced health and safety consultants – saving time, saving resources, and limiting risks. All these represent something that your construction business cannot succeed without: cost savings.
Because training, growing and managing an outside team takes a lower expenditure of resources from your business, it’s easier and cheaper to handle any job in the safest way possible.
Ready to learn more about the benefits of bringing in turnkey expertise to keep your crews safe and your construction company free from undue liability and compliance risk? Contact Foothills Safety today to get started!
