The primary goal of any company is to achieve maximum profits with minimal costs. However, attempting to boost profits by cutting costs in certain areas can be counterproductive—especially when it comes to industrial safety. Not only does this put your long-term revenue at risk, but overlooking this crucial strategic pillar can also lead to significant problems.
So, what is the purpose of industrial safety? It is designed to protect the physical well-being of workers, preventing workplace accidents and ensuring a favorable environment where work activities are carried out. This is a multidisciplinary field focused on effectively managing and minimizing the inherent risks in any industrial activity. Key objectives include ensuring workplace safety for employees, safeguarding their physical integrity and health, and ensuring the proper use of materials and tools.
Why You Need an Industrial Safety Specialist in Your Company
Typically, executives in any organization are not experts in safety. Their work is more focused on management and leadership tasks. This is why it is a smart decision to have someone on your team who is specifically trained in industrial safety and, ideally, also in occupational risk prevention. A professional with comprehensive training in Security Sciences and Occupational Risk Prevention offers the best guarantees.
With a safety director in place, executives can be confident that the workforce is operating in the best possible conditions, that current legislation is being adhered to, and that a significant number of concerns are eliminated. This compartmentalized approach to work allows key tasks to be delegated to personnel specifically qualified for them, ensuring better economic outcomes regardless of the company’s industry.
The Best Application of Industrial Safety: Protecting Your Most Important Asset
A security director’s primary concern should be the protection and safeguarding of all essential assets necessary for the smooth operation of the company: facilities, access points, materials, infrastructure, data, and software applications. However, none of these elements hold value without the participation of the most important assets—the employees.
Human capital is both the engine and the fuel that keeps any organization running. Therefore, they must be the top priority when it comes to ensuring that industrial safety meets the minimum legal requirements. The focus should be on ensuring that all team members, regardless of their role, work in the best possible conditions. What does industrial safety require? Workplaces equipped with approved safety measures, appropriate clothing for handling hazardous materials, proper signage for risk areas, and so on. It is about both protection and prevention.
Investing in Industrial Safety to Avoid Severe Penalties
Investing in industrial safety is crucial for both you and your employees. Beyond the points already discussed, attempting to cut corners on this issue can drain your resources and jeopardize your business, potentially leading to criminal penalties. Failure to comply with legal requirements for occupational risk prevention can result in fines that, depending on the type and severity of the violation, can exceed €600,000. Not to mention the risk to the safety of those working with you.
Unfortunately, achieving zero workplace accidents is still not a reality. According to data from the Ministry of Labor, Migration, and Social Security, in 2018 there were 703,000 accidents that did not result in work absences, over 600,000 that did cause absences, and more than 500 fatal accidents. The goal of well-managed industrial safety is to reduce these numbers to the absolute minimum as quickly as possible.