Embracing Health and Safety

We love what we do in our Hundred Acre world, though we often meet people who don’t share the same thoughts. For a long time, health and safety has had a bad press and has been promoted by the media as something that stops people having fun. Think “elf and safety”, “safety killjoys” etc. We’ve heard it all.

Thankfully, we’re surrounded by like-minded people at Hundred Acre. People like us, who embrace the world in which we work and are really trying to change the perception of health and safety, and rebrand what we do. It’s encouraging to us that so many people are considering things like sustainability and initiatives such as Safety Differently.

We decided to write about embracing health and safety now as we’ve noticed it’s been used as a new kind of excuse over the last few weeks. We often hear health and safety being used an excuse for many things, especially on the run up to Christmas, however train companies, prisons and unions are all using it as their reason to strike. While we’re not questioning their reasons, we can see a clear difference between the two mindsets.

“We always put people first.” Explains Bridget Gilmour, Hundred Acre’s founder and director. “We work with companies to proactively manage health and safety by applying it to everything they do. By working in synergy with their other business systems, employees work more effectively and get home safely at the end of the day.”

A Few Tips to Consider

Be proactive: There are always things we don’t know, though that isn’t a reason to hide from them. Health and safety doesn’t have to be a scary thing, nor does it have to be time consuming or onerous, and most importantly, it should never be ignored. Ignoring things mean they are far more likely to hurt in the future. Embrace health and safety. Consider what your business needs and work on getting it done.

No “no” in health and safety: Health and safety is often considered to be something that stops you from doing things, but that’s the wrong way to look at it. Health and safety legislation exists to look after people and make sure everyone gets home at the end of the day. Whatever you are trying to achieve can be done with a little planning.

Remember your ABC: The HSE website is always a great place to start looking for information and support on managing health and safety. They have a great couple of pages called ABC and Keeping it Simple to help you.

Don’t hide from safety. If you’re still confused or have questions after reading the HSE’s advice, please get in touch with us on +44 (0)1933 201103 or via our contact page. We are always here to help, support and guide you with setting up systems and training.