How health & safety knowledge can strengthen your job search

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IS IMPORTANT

College graduates often forget one important factor that could help them get a job: professional development. It’s often misconstrued that professional development can only be acquired in the workplace, but that is far from the truth.

In reality, a college student or a young professional can take up additional training or go through workshops that could enhance their skills in their field of study or industry. There are numerous programs, workshops, seminars, and even short-term courses that could help them achieve professional development.

If we were to recommend a seminar or workshop that could increase your chances of landing a job, it’s going through Workplace Health and Safety Training.

WHAT IS WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING?

Workplace Health and Safety Training go by different names, but you’ll often find them under the guise of Workplace Health and Safety. Depending on the country that you reside in, these programs are geared towards providing you, and business owners, a solid background on how to make the workplace as safe as possible.

These programs were designed under the assumption that every workplace is dangerous, and we’re not only talking about those belonging to industries that deal with heavy machinery. Every workplace can be a potentially hazardous to your health. Falling from a broken chair can cause enough damage to fracture bones. Slipping off a wet floor and breaking your arm in the process can put the company at risk. It sounds exaggerated but these are real-life threats to the safety of an employee and the integrity of a business’ ability to protect its workers.

WHAT CAN YOU BENEFIT FROM HEALTH AND SAFETY KNOWLEDGE?

As a college graduate, employers wouldn’t even think that you’d have the knowledge about workplace health and safety. Depending on where you reside, there are health and safety training programs that are geared towards providing basic knowledge as well as specific knowledge for industries that involve chemicals, construction, welding, textile, and even healthcare.

As a college graduate who through these programs (depending on availability and training requirements), you increase your chances of getting hired because:

• You provide valuable insight and information into keeping the workplace healthy and safe. If the company that you have applied for are not aware of the different laws that govern health and safety in the workplace, then you are already an asset to them.
• You provide a lasting service to your employers. Because of what you know and your credentials, you can provide a lasting service or legacy to your employers. For example, getting hired as an office assistant may not be as impactful as one might think it would be, but if you were put in charge of training employees and management on workplace health and safety, then you already have left a mark in that company.
• You can help the employers cut cost. Because of your credentials, your employers will no longer spend money on hiring third-party agencies or trainers to orient them about workplace health and safety. They already have one that’s in-house and that could be you. There’s nothing an employer likes more than being able to cut costs, and if you give them the opportunity to cut costs, you are an asset.

WHAT CAN EMPLOYERS BENEFIT FROM YOUR KNOWLEDGE?

Your employers are more than likely to hire you for your knowledge about health and safety in the workplace because it benefits them as well. Here’s what they can get out of your expertise in the area of health and safety.

1. It helps them reduce their insurance premiums. Because your company now has managers and employees who are trained in health and safety, this will reduce a company’s health insurance premiums because your employees are less likely to make a claim in case of any injury. Not only that, your workplace will already have gone through several preventative measures to protect the health and safety of an employee.

2. It helps enhance their reputation. Did you know that one in four call centre staff suffer from problems with their throat and voice because of poor health and safety consideration? Not only will this affect their performance and standing, but it also increases your costs for covering their absence and also impact the reputation of your company. By having a standard workplace health and safety protocol in place, you’re guaranteeing your employees that you are protecting them and that their welfare is in the company’s best interest. On top of that, your reputation will be enhanced positively because your company will be known as a company that cares for its employees.

3. It helps increase employee productivity. A staff member who experiences pain or discomfort while they are in the workplace are not productive. A manager or supervisor that’s trained in auditing health and safety will be able to check for these kinds of discomforts or inconvenience caused by the workplace. Once these have been identified, the company will be able to act to ensure that all employees are comfortable while they are in the workplace.

4. It reduces absences. A manager, supervisor, or business owner that’s trained in health and safety practices will be able to reduce illnesses and absences. For example, by knowing the allowed working temperatures within a room and by installing required washing facilities, a company could prevent viruses from spreading within the office.

5. It helps them against damages. A company must take the necessary steps to protect the health and well-being of their staff. A business owner who’s negligent in their duties to do so are held personally responsible, so they could be fined or imprisoned. By having managers and employees that are knowledgeable in health and safety, a company can protect itself through the implementation of procedures that will reduce the chances of injury and claims. Workplace accident insurance (depending on where you live) will cover different types of claims within the right circumstance, but even with insurance, a company needs to prove that they took steps in preventing the injury to happen.

“Directors must have an understanding of the role safety performance plays in the performance of their business. In accepting corporate responsibility for health and safety, directors need to be proactive in developing a positive safety culture for their workplace. In the long-term this leads to an internal cultural shift that can have an indirect impact on external brand affinity and brand loyalty.” according to David Rowland, Head of Marketing at Effective Software

THE BOTTOMLINE

As a potential employee, your knowledge in health and safety can benefit not only you but also your potential employers. Invest time and money in going through these programs to set yourself apart from other candidates. Remember, knowledge is power, and in the workplace, health and safety knowledge can get you a better chance at landing a job.