WSPS.CA | 2023 HEALTH & SAFETY LEADERSHIP SURVEY WHITE PAPER 17
HEALTH AND SAFETY'S IMPACT ON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
Policies and procedures shouldn't be overwhelming, but they are important. Only half of the
employees who work in Reactive organizations said they usually or always follow health and safety
policies precisely – a stark contrast to behaviour in Proactive and Leading organizations. The top
two reasons that employers want to improve health and safety are compliance and caring for
employees. However, only half said they formally evaluate their health and safety plans. Companies
that do evaluate focus most heavily on reduction of injuries and costs.
Robertson understands the feeling that it is difficult to evaluate a health and safety program.
Again, he suggests keeping it simple by using assessment tools that are available, such as
The Guarding Minds at Work Survey to assess the 13 factors of psychosocial safety in the workplace
and compliance audits. These tools can be helpful in identifying specific aspects of the health
and safety program that need improvement. "It's important to structure the work to be done in
compliance with the law, develop policies and procedures, and provide adequate training to workers,
but you must also make sure that employees' mental health isn't suffering."
69%
Always/Mostly
49%
7%
25%
20%
Rarely/Never
Sometimes
Mostly
Always
Are Safety Policies Followed?
VS 2021
Leading
88%
-11
Proactive
80%
--9
Managing
65%
-10
Reactive
51%
-3
Start of journey
57%
-20
* E.S. = Employee Survey
Safety Policies are Always/Mostly Followed
