It’s imperative (legally and financially) for a company to have a health and safety program. Health and safety measures keep staff safe, maintain the reputation of your business, satisfy the requirements of the law, enhance productivity, save money, lower staff turnover, reduce workplace stress and decrease insurance premiums. The question is: Should you develop an in-house safety team or hire a health and safety consultant? Most often, the answer is a consultant. The following are some reasons to choose a safety consultant over a full-time safety officer.
- Reduced costs: If you choose to hire a full-time health and safety employee you pay a full-time salary, cost of training, benefits, severance and the expense to find and hire the best candidate. A contract with a health and safety consultant means you pay only when services are required. Also, consultant fees are a business expense, meaning they’re tax-deductible.
- Expert status: A health and safety consultant is regarded as an expert, not a peer. This brings clarity and focus to their role.
- Invaluable insight: Having tackled a variety of safety issues for a range of different industries, a consultant brings a vast amount of skills, experience and knowledge. They are able to adapt to an assortment of challenges, allowing them to provide invaluable insight into effective health and safety measures and policies related to your business.
- Contact with relevant representatives: A seasoned safety consultant will have experience with Canada Occupational Health and Safety, enabling them to ease communication with this compliance organization and negotiate fines and other requirements.
- Up-to-date knowledge: A safety consultant attends seminars/webinars, reads industry news and meets experts in the field. They’ll have awareness of the latest rules, regulations, developments and demands. Their engagement with various resources and businesses ensures their knowledge is deep and current.
- An outside viewpoint: A health and safety consultant is unaffected by internal affairs and/or past safety records. They approach your safety program free of bias and with a broad perspective. An independent consultant will point out potential flaws of safety systems and offer possible improvements to meet the required standards.
- Established reputation: Working with multiple companies results in the creation of a reputation. A strong positive reputation attracts better people to the consulting firm, ensuring your business gets advice from skilled and proficient consultants.
- Reduced stress: Using the services of a safety consultant eliminates the pressure of wondering if you’re in compliance. By hiring a safety professional, you can be sure that your company is meeting and exceeding industry requirements.
There are many advantages to hiring a reliable safety consultant over an in-house safety consultant. Safety consultants solve problems quickly, get great results and are less expensive over the long term. They offer a fresh and objective insight into your safety policy and effective training on safety procedures. They’ll negotiate potential fines and work with your insurance company to cut workers’ compensation premiums, boost your business reputation and attract new clients. They provide consistency in implementing effective safety solutions. Consider a safety consultant for your business.
Eliminate the pressure of wondering if you’re in compliance. Hire 1st Quality Safety Consulting. We’ll make sure that your company is meeting or exceeding industry requirements. We’ll put our eyes on your safety program, spotting any flaws that have the potential to become severe risks and helping you proactively address the issues. Contact us for a free consultation.
