Every company has a clear interest in building a workforce that's healthy and free from safety risks. A healthy staff is one that works productively, avoids unnecessary interruptions and consistently adds value to the business.

If you zoom out a bit, it's also clear that New Zealand as a whole benefits when its workers are healthy. This leads to a strong economy, lower health costs and a generally higher quality of life. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the national government is currently showing an increased level of emphasis on enforcing health standards. The positive impact of this move should steadily trickle down to companies and their employers.

New Zealand government leads the charge

For evidence of New Zealand's commitment to health and safety, one should begin by looking at the top. According to a New Zealand Government press release, the country has begun to focus more heavily on safety since the recent passage of the Health and Safety Reform Bill, which will mandate that companies enforce safety rules and educate employees about the risks they face.

The government has high aspirations with this new law. The hope is that by 2020, workplace injuries and deaths will be 25 per cent lower than they are today. To make this happen, companies will need better enforcement tools and more participation from workers in safety training courses.

How companies can spread the word

The first step toward creating a safer workforce is building awareness. If you can disseminate safety documentation materials throughout the workforce, you should be able to drive renewed interest in health and reform the culture of your organisation.

This begins by making your company's safety rules accessible and visible to everyone. Once you've made everyone aware of the ground rules, you can start to draw up a hierarchy of accountable people in your organisation who are in charge of enforcing safety standards. An emphasis on healthy work practices should begin from your top-level business leadership and trickle down.

Making compliance simple and automatic

Perhaps the best way of disseminating safety compliance information to the entire workforce is to use a highly convenient workplace safety app. That's where SiteApp comes in – we offer a mobile application that makes it easy for your personnel to share information about people's wellness and productivity.

One of our app's many features is its ability to simplify compliance. By verifying that your safety info is always accurate and your work processes remain effective, SiteApp takes all the frustration out of workplace safety. As a result, your staff gets to return to what they do best – working productively.