Longworth Blog Advent 2019

In the thirteenth of our Christmas Advent Blogs, our SHEQ Manager Melissa Fazackerley asks our Office Manager Chloe Smith the following question –

How important do you think it is for HR and Health and safety to work together for the best outcome for Longworth?

In my experience human resources and health and safety have always worked closely together. There is a lot of cross over in terms of the management and well being of employees.  The success of this depends on there being a close working relationship between the two departments.

I have a daily interaction with our SHEQ Manager Melissa on a number of subjects.  It also helps that we sit next to each other in the office!  This has developed into a strong working relationship which benefits Longworth at identifying any trends, issues and areas of improvement which of course contributes to the sustainability of Longworth. There is a clear crossover in the reports and findings that both human resources and health and safety run, and a lot of information needs to be shared in order to get true results.  For example how many man days lost due to accidents on site will need to be shared with HR to include in absence reports. Likewise, with back to work interviews, if someone has been off work as a result of an injury HR needs to inform health and safety so that they can work together to ensure any safety measures are implemented on their return to work.

Both departments have more in common than not, so striving towards a more engaged workforce, using the tools to make reporting and management as simple as possible and sharing information between departments is really the best way for HR and Health and Safety to remain effective and prominent within the business.