Don’t overlook mental health and safety

Recent high-profile cases have put a spotlight on the issue of mental health – and mental health can and does impact on-the-job performance. As we’ve seen, even our politicians can struggle with mental health, and if not managed properly, the effects can be damaging both professionally and personally. While your workshop is a far cry from the different pressures of Parliament, it is nevertheless a busy place where appropriate attention should be focused on the wellness and wellbeing of your people.

Mental wellbeing is an asset

Healthy people are better equipped to cope with life’s day-to-day stresses, so we can work and interact positively and reach our full potential. Remember, even though there’s plenty of physical work, our minds do the heavy lifting. Healthy minds are more creative, innovative and solutionsfocused, and give your workshop a competitive edge. When we’re mentally positive and well, we’re more productive, more satisfied and less likely to take time off, suffer injuries, or leave for another job. That reduces sick leave and means good people stay longer, eliminating recruitment and training costs.

Looking after Health and Safety (including mental health) is a legal requirement

While we’re all familiar with Health & Safety laws, you might not realise that this extends to managing health and safety risks associated with stress part and parcel. Sick leave must be granted so employees can care for their mental health just the same as they might for physical health.

What causes stress in the workplace?

There are many factors, of course, and pinning them all down is difficult or impossible. But we do know that little things can add up to a lot. Overheads of administration and ‘paperwork’ can contribute to that – nobody likes the hassle of paperwork, forms, and interruptions to workflow. We’ve designed HSE Connect to make getting the overheads of good health and safety practices easier, faster and more convenient, eliminating one more potential source of stress from your workshop.

Regulation and compliance exists for a reason

This, really, is the crucial point. We need to separate H&S admin from H&S purpose. The admin is there and yes, it is a hassle, but it is there in support of the purpose of H&S. The point of H&S isn’t the admin or paperwork that we all hate, and which makes us think and say the things above. The point is and always was keeping people safe. And as we all know, regulatory compliance demonstrates that we’re walking the H&S talk.

Easing compliance improves safety

It is precisely in response to the hassle of the admin and the burden of ‘red tape’ that HSE Connect was formed. We’ve come up with a way to make H&S faster, more convenient, and easier. We’ve ditched the paperwork and put H&S record-keeping (and practices, and reinforcement of good process and procedures) on mobile devices, so you can ditch the idea that H&S is a pain. When the record-keeping gets easier, the workshop gets safer.

Peace of mind, thanks to HSE Connect

HSE Connect’s easy-to-use software already provides peace of mind to thousands of MTA members. Members get discounted pricing and free set-up.

Find out more here: www.hseconnect.co/mta or call HSE Connect on 022 643 1832.