In the days and weeks after the UK voted to leave the European Union, there was much speculation about the impact the decision would have on health and safety. With a few years to go until the move was finalised, this was all speculation.
But now that the process has been seen to completion, what effect will Brexit really have on health and safety, and what other challenges will have a part to play?
Who Governs Our Health and Safety Laws?
Much of the concern about changes to health and safety legislation comes from a misunderstanding about the interplay between our laws and EU laws.
All of the health and safety regulations we adopted from the EU came in the form of European Directives.
This means that if the EU passes a Directive, it becomes law in every member state until another Directive comes along to undo or alter it. However, that directive must be implemented by each member state before it becomes law.
These regulations will stay part of our laws unless they are specifically changed or repealed.
It is also important to note that much of our health and safety regulation was outlined in the Health and Safety At Work Act 1974, which is a British law, not an EU one. As a result, these laws will remain the same.
Any small changes that have been made to existing laws are purely language-based (removing EU references) but the actual regulations themselves have not changed.
As it stands, businesses do not need to be too concerned about changes made by Brexit, but that may not always be the case.
Now that our health and safety regulations are separate from the EU, the regulations can evolve and change at different rates.
In the future, businesses must be prepared to tackle different regulations across borders when developing products or expanding overseas. But where workplace health and safety in the UK is concerned, the impact of Brexit is, so far, minimal.
The Changing Face Of The Post-COVID Workplace
Many businesses are less focused on Brexit and more concerned about the changes brought about by the pandemic.
Even before the pandemic, work practices were changing a lot. There was already an increase in remote working, and this increased further during the pandemic.
Employers are still liable for health and safety concerns, even when team members are working at home. As remote working becomes the norm for a lot of companies, employers must find new ways to protect their employee's physical and mental health.
This may be through the provision of ergonomic furniture, for example, but also by providing support in other areas, like mental health.
Naturally, COVID has had a direct impact on health and safety as businesses had to put measures in place to manage the risk of infection. However, these changes are unlikely to have a long term impact once the pandemic is over.
The Impact of Technology on Health and Safety
Although people predicted that Brexit and, more recently, COVID-19 would change health and safety, it is actually the introduction of new technology that is having the biggest impact.
New applications are giving businesses more control over risk and compliance than ever before. They can monitor and manage risks, by alerting them to accidents, near misses, and unsafe work practices.
All incidents can be identified, reported, and tracked with ease. The introduction of apps like these will help businesses keep more control over their workers, which of course leads to better health and safety standards.
Cloud applications make it possible for all of this information to be managed from a centralised hub, wherever you are in the world. Applications like Quooda, in particular, are revolutionising the way that the health and safety industry in the UK works.
In the past, businesses suffered from inefficiencies because different aspects of health and safety were managed independently of one another. But Quooda is paving a new way and solving this problem by digitally integrating all of your risk and compliance management systems.
Implementing scalable technology that grows with the business and integrates with other applications is vital.
This allows you to streamline your health and safety processes and avoid any oversights.
If you want to ensure that your health and safety systems are future-proof, you don't need to be worrying about Brexit or the impact of COVID-19, you need to be looking at the integrated tech tools you are using.
with one of our safety experts to learn more about how Quooda could revolutionise the way you manage health and safety.
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