Concerns about budget cuts and skills shortages are leading organisations to become agile. Could outsourcing in the health and safety areas of a business be a crucial part of the mix?
Respondents of the 2024 Health & Safety Report, produced by RS in association with Health and Safety Magazine (HSM), expect the primary concerns over the coming year to be skills shortages. Almost half (47%) of those surveyed viewed this as a high risk.
Budget cuts followed this (41%) and pressure to improve continuity (39%). Inflation also remains a concern, with 36 per cent of respondents worried about this, while almost one in four (23%) point to regulatory changes.
Is outsourcing the solution?
The most common service outsourced to a third party is cable recycling, but even here only 45 per cent of survey respondents make use of this, with 41 per cent choosing to do it in-house. It’s a similar story with battery recycling, which is outsourced by 43 per cent of organisations.
As cited in the report, a third (33%) of respondents outsource HSE training, compared to 60 per cent who prefer to deliver this in-house. And 26 per cent use external organisations to track and report their Scope 3 emissions.
There’s huge potential for organisations to make more of outsourcing, but it is still early days in some areas.
Twenty-seven per cent of our survey respondents think improved policies and procedures would have a positive impact on their health and safety compliance. This has increased from 20 per cent the previous year.
Staff retention is another focus, with 25 per cent thinking this would help, a rise of five per cent from 2023.
After Brexit, we saw a large turnover of employees, particularly within the food environment and we still see high levels of vacancies within these organisations.
That’s a macro-example, manifested from an internal perspective. New processes may require updated procedures and, with a high turnover of people, organisations are constantly having to re-evaluate this.
Source – shponline.co.uk
Comments